Kerala Cultural Activity
Centre (KCA) has been organizing this annual event for the Indian community in
Khartoum for the last twelve years. The aim of the event is to celebrate Eid
and Onam together which is attended by more than 1000 people from the Indian
community residing in Khartoum, Omdurman, Bahri and the peripheries.
The core members of KCA
are from Kerala, the tiniest state in the Southern tip of India. People from
Kerala are very enterprising and comprise the majority of Indian expat
community in the Gulf and neighbouring countries. Onam is a harvesting festival
celebrated in Kerala and is symbolized by the home coming of King Mahabali.
These festivities of Kerala are recreated by KCA in this grand yearly
get-together of the community at St.Francis School in Khartoum. This year it
was held on Saturday 10th August in order to celebrate Eid at the
same time.
The Eid & Onam Fest
has become popular because KCA has not restricted the event to people from
Kerala only but opened it to all Indians irrespective of their region. Thus the
variety entertainment programme staged
at this festival truly represents the diversity of India. New talents are
discovered every year amongst children, mothers and men who perform dances, sing
regional songs and recite poems. The festivities are concluded with a
traditional and sumptuous vegetarian meal.
An additional feature this
year was the cooking competition which was held in the morning. There were
eight contestants who cooked wonderful dishes. This competition was sponsored
by Petrola LPG gas the new name for Gapco.
It is worth mentioning
that the Ambassador of India H.E. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Verma and his wife
Mrs.Gunjan Verma encouraged the community with their active presence during the
cooking competition in the day and at the cultural programme in the evening.
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