Sunday, October 23, 2011

‘Udupi Utsava' from November 20



A metal pandal being set up to accomodate 200 stalls of
A metal pandal being set up to accomodate 200 stalls of "Udupi Utsava" at the MGM College grounds in Udupi on Thursday.

Beach festival, cultural programmes, and amusements will be key attractions
For the people of Udupi, it will be time to rejoice and enjoy as the two-month “Udupi Utsava” will kick off on the MGM College grounds (A.L.N. Rao grounds) here from November 20Cultural extravaganza, mega exhibition, amusements of various types, and beach festival are the highlights of the Udupi Utsava which is being organised by the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) for the second consecutive year.
The CMC organised the Udupi Utsava for the first time last year to coincide with the platinum jubilee of the Udupi City Municipal Council. The utsava received good response last year.


The utsava is being held by the CMC in collaboration with the National Consumer Fair, Bangalore. Two-hundred stalls would be put up at the mega exhibition. The stalls would display handicrafts, fancy items, electronics, furniture, food items, and household items not available in the local market.
For the children, besides the giant wheel, there would be “Dragon Train”, “Mega Pool”, “Dashing Car” and “Mega Balloon”. For the culturally inclined, there would be cultural programmes such as Yakshagana, Kannada, and Tulu plays and folk dances in the evenings at the MGM College grounds.
CMC Commissioner Gokuldas Nayak told The Hindu on Thursday that the cultural programmes would be performed by local artistes so as to give importance to local talent.
A two-day beach festival to be held in Malpe. Among the programmes lined up are kite-flying competition, beach volleyball, beach kabbadi, and “tug-of-war”. A seafood festival would be held on the occasion. Local fish and prawn delicacies would be served to seafood lovers.
The CMC expected four lakh people to witness the utsava during the two months. There would be an entry fee of Rs. 20 a person (excluding those aged below three).
“Of the four lakh people, we expect to collect entry fees from two lakh. About Rs. 40 lakh will be generated from the entry fees, which will be shared equally between the CMC and NFC. About Rs. 20 lakh is enough for us to hold cultural programmes and the beach festival,” he said.