Saudi Gazette Report:

RIYADH — Expatriates from the eastern Indian state of Odisha residing here celebrated a grand event to popularize the culture, art and ethos of Odisha. The program, under the umbrella of Riyadh Odisha Socio-Cultural Association (ROSA), included lively speeches, prizes, felicitations, raffle draw and cultural extravaganza.

The chief guest was Dr. Dev Mohanty, a social worker, multinational businessman and philanthropist of Odisha origin and the chairman and managing director of ASMACS Group. The Guest of Honour was Mairaj Mohammad Khan, the dynamic principal of Daratassalam International Delhi Public School (DPS), Riyadh.

ROSA President Debashis Rout welcomed the audience and recalled the importance of Indian expats and highlighted the Odisha “Culture”, stressing on how “being Pravasi Odiyas do we sustain our art and culture even though away from home land.”

Mohanty congratulated ROSA members for serving the community, developing talents of young children and spreading goodwill of India and Odisha in a foreign land. He cited many examples of historical and modern day successes of Odisha and wished for the success of the state in future too.

Khan appreciated that though Odisha community in Riyadh is small in size but under the ROSA banner it conducts periodic activities to encourage the talents of children. He was happy to see many kids getting prizes for various competitions and taking part in the grand cultural program, among which many were students of his school.

Advisor Dr. Fazal briefed all on the Odisha culture, trade and traditions and explained the vision of ROSA — “to make Odisha visible to rest of world”. Also, advisor Shamsher Ali spoke about the importance of Odisha in global map in terms of it being the 1st Smart City of India and the progressive growth of Odisha.

The colourful event was sponsored by ASMACS Group, Air India, HDFC Ltd., SecurEyes, Red Chilli, Sekhar Builder, Masdar Al Hayat For Food Industries Ltd., Advance Net Trading, Tandi Construction, ASC and FORSAN Foods.

The event was anchored by Manhil, Raiyan and Tasneem under the guidance of Mrs Bilquiss Ali. A special souvenir edition was put together by Fazal, Shamsher, Mrs. Bilquiss, Anwar and Rout, which was released to commemorate the occasion. The ROSA president called on the members to come forward in developing literary activities. General Secretary Saroj Panigrahi read out the ROSA events and Vice President Razik Wakil offered the vote of thanks.

The central attraction of the event was the cultural program which was fine-tuned by entire cultural team and supported by General Secretary Panigrahi, Cultural Secretary Azeem Uddin Khan, and P.K. Das. The dance items were choreographed by Mrs. Deepa Panigrahi, Dr. Chandana Patnaik and Mrs. Bhavna Jain (Rout) and performed excellently by the ROSA children and elders and anchored by Vivek, Sambit, Azeem, Siropani, Jugal, Mrs. Mumtaz, Mrs. Dipica and Mrs. Bhavna.

The curtains was rung on the successful evening with a raffle draw co-hosted by Razik, Hadu, Azeem, Vivek, Kalim.

ROSA’s mission is to showcase the achievements of the Odisha community among the expatriate population. The cultural event and the souvenir are effective measures to achieve that. It depicts the dreams and accomplishments of Oriyas. — SG