India's culture,crafts & cuisine on show

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav to open tomorrow

To promote cultural diversity and celebrate India's cultural strength, a four-day national cultural festival ‘Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav (RSM)’ will be held at Kalagrama near Jnanabharathi in the city from Sunday onwards.

Organised by the Ministry of Culture in association with the department of Kannada and Culture, the event will showcase the cultural diversity of India through arts, artisans, various dance forms, handicrafts and flavours from across the country. More than 600 artistes, including traditional, folk and tribal performing artistes, are expected to take part in the festival.

Director, South Zone Cultural Centre (SZCC), Sajith E N, and director of Kannada and Culture department, K A Dayanand, told journalists on Friday said that to attract the young crowd, a series of contests like quizzes, drawing and patriotic song competitions for school and college students would be held.

“To commemorate International Women's Day on March 8, a special programme will be held featuring women folk artistes. Dishes like ‘makki ki roti - sarson ka saag’, ‘jalebi’, ‘dal bati and churma’ reflecting cuisines of various states will be available,” said Dayanand.

SZCC director Sajith said RSM was conceived by the Ministry of Culture in 2015 and the first edition was held in November in the same year. “So far, it has been held twice in Delhi twice and once in Varanasi,” he said. The event is open to public from 3 pm to 9 pm and there is no entry fee.