The second day at the Shilpgram engrossed the audience and enthralled the spectators to no end.

Girls and boys of Gujarat presented the Ratva dance, where the boys had a Ghungroo belt tied around their waist, making an enchanting sound as they moved. This was followed by the Haryanvi “Khodiya” dance.

Gazi Khan gave a solo performance on “Manganiar” where he sang his self-composed song, also famously known as the “Nimbooda” in a Bollywood movie, “Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam”.

The Maharashtra Day was later inaugurated jointly by the Director of Cultural Affairs, Govt. of Maharashtra, Ashutosh Ghorpade, Additional Director WZCC, Furqaan Shaikh and the Director of Cultural Affairs, Goa, P. Laliakar.

As the day progressed, the Maharashtra culture was all around, enthralling the audience and giving them a glimpse of the culture down under – the culture, traditions and festivals of Maharashtra.

Quite accordingly, the Maharashtra day began with a Shri Ganesh Vandana (as do all events in Maharashtra), which was followed by the Godi Parva and Narli Purnima (dances by fishermen).

The Maharashtrian way of celebrating all festivals,viz. Navratri, Diwali, Holi, Makar Sankranti, Christmas and Eid were depicted beautifully, while the enthusiasm with which Ganesh Chathurthi and Ganpati Visarjan are celebrated was to be seen to be believed.

The Shorya Pradarshan, a stunt show displaying the stunts practiced at the time of Shivaji with weapons like the Dand Patta and swords, kept the audience in awe. The Soungi Mukhotay performed by artists from Nasik also added color to the performance.

In the words of Ashutosh Ghorpade, “we have included all the festivals including Christmas, Eid, Holi and Diwali and it took us 15 days to prepare for this. Kavita Koli choreographed the entire performance for Maharashtra day.”

The other performances of the day included Goti Pua by Orissa artists; Sarnam Kayi by Mizo artists; Samayi dance by Goan artists, also called the Lamp Dance, where artists dance while balancing lamps on their head and the Oppanna dance by performers from Kerala added color to an already bright day of exceptional performances.

Reporting by: Kali Garg & Mansoor Ali

Photos by: Sayeed Ahmed