Time to reach to the beach

The beach festival is back again offering fun filled moments to people especially children. Though the three days’ beach festival, which was kicked off at the beautiful expanse of Panambur beach on Friday, did not witness a huge crowd, the venue is all set to attract large crowd at the weekend.

A festive mood has been prevailed on the clean and serene Panambur beach where visitors will have gala time on January 22 and 23. The fest began with volleyball tournament for men and throwball tourney for women on Friday. While a total of 24 teams from various parts of the district are participating in the volleyball tournament, six teams are vying each other in the throwball competition. Hundreds witnessed the preliminary rounds of the volleyball and throwball tournaments which was held on the sandy shores of the Arabian sea.

About 20 teams selected in the preliminary round dance contest (held in Town Hall) participated in the beach dance festival on Friday evening out of which five teams were shortlisted and they will stage the performance on January 23 evening. The first three winners of the dance contest will get cash prizes of Rs 30,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. In addition to it, the top two dance groups will be bestowed with an opportunity to stage their dance in Bidar Utsav, informed Assistant Commissioner Prabhulinga Kavalikatti.

To ensure entertainment to all the music lovers, singing competition will be held as a part of beach fest on Saturday evening, where, as many as 15 teams will take part. 

Soaring high

Colourful kites flown by the Team Mangalore adorned the skies at Panambur giving enchanting view for the spectators. Kites on the theme owl, Durga, and Yakshagana fluttered in the sky on Friday evening. In addition to Team Mangalore, few interested public along with their family members too had a fun time by flying colourful kites. 

Speaking to City Hearld, Sarvesh Rao from Team Mangalore said that the team will fly 25 kites on Day-2 and Day-3. One of the distinct kite prepared by Team Mangalore ‘Pushpaka Vimana,’ which had grabbed prize in the kite fest in Rajastan, too will be flown on Saturday and Sunday.

For foodies

Mouth watering delicacies of Tulunadu will treat the taste buds of the foodies who visit the place. As many as 20 food stalls have been opened in the venue as a part of food fest. Yummy neerudose, idli, apa, akki pundi and a wide range of pure delicacies of Dakshina Kannada will not stop one from hopping in to the food stalls.

People, who would like to spend holidays, can participate enthusiastically in various water sports to be organised as part of the programme on January 23. Interested can participate in the swimming and traditional boat race in Arabian sea. Sand sculpture competition, skating competition and singing competition make the beach festival more entrancing. The orchestra led by noted singers Rajesh Krishnan, Ganesh Narayanan and Chaitra provide delightful moments of music on the finale of the festival on January 23 at 7 pm.  With six CCTV cameras fixed on the beach surrounding and 25 metal detectors (10 frame) installed to screen the visitors, the district administration seems to have taken maximum efforts to tighten up secuity in the venue.

Lucky man, says Norwegian

Amidst the crowd, an old but energetic man from Norway, Per Hjortland drew the attention of the crowd by moving enthusiastically in Panambur beach. When asked, he said that this is for the fifth time he is in Mangalore and for the first time he is witnessing beach fest. All he said was, “I love this beach and I am lucky to be amidst this fun filled atmosphere.”