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Colourful and classical start to the Diaspora Cultural Meet

— Photo: T.Singaravelou

Enthralling the crowd: Artists from Nrithyodaya School of Dance performing at the diaspora meet on Friday.

PUDUCHERRY: Classical and folk performances marked the opening of the eight-day Indian Diaspora Cultural Meet in the coastal town on Friday evening. Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam inaugurated the meet, which was being held on the theme of “Oceanic Culture.”

The third Diaspora Cultural Meet, held as an attempt to understand the cultural exchange, comprises exhibitions, seminars and cultural performances.

The exhibition at the Old Light House looks at the movement of culture from the Coromandel Coast and has documented images, artefacts and videos. Two Diaspora cultural meets were held in New Delhi earlier, Suresh Kumar Pillai, Head, Diaspora Programme of Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), the organiser of the event said.

Bharathanatyam exponent Padma Subrahmanyam and artists from Nrithyodaya School of Dance staged a number of performances on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, she said her solo performance was close to the seminar’s theme - Oceanic Culture - as the song was composed by Thirugnana Sambandhar in the seventh century and spoke on ocean culture, coral reefs and pearls.

“The name of the town in the song is called “Thonnipuram,” which is the present day Sirkazhi. The song is about shore culture,” she added. She said human feelings were same for every person in the world and night and day was common to the entire human race.

A number of varied folk performances, held as part of the cultural meet, enthralled the crowd which gathered on the beach road.

As part of the Diaspora Cultural Meet, seminars on Oceanic cultural exchanges in the Coromandel Coast in sessions such as Ancient period up to seventh century AD, medieval periods, colonial periods and Indian Diaspora from Coromandel coast and screening of films would be held.

An exhibition on Indian Diaspora would be held at Maison Colombani, Alliance Francaise. The cultural meet would go on till January 9.

Chief Commissioner of Central Board of Excise and Customs P.N. Vittal Dass, Secretary (Tourism) Cholleti Prabhakar, Director of Tourism Mathew Samuel and Member Secretary of IGNCA, New Delhi, K.K. Chakravarty were present.

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