Oman Bunts celebrate grand 23rd anniversary

Mangalore Today News Network

Oman, Oct 25, 2010: The Oman Bunts celebrated its 23rd anniversary on Oct 22, Friday at Ramee Dream Resort, Seeb. The event included traditional Bunt cuisine, fun games, and entertainment, with the highlight of the event being the Bunt Food Festival, the first of its kind in 23 years. Over 300 people participated in this event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The guests were welcomed at the entrance with a tender coconut; and inside the hall, the women were greeted with flowers and haldi kumkum. A tray with jaggery, pingara, betel leaves, supari, and water was placed in view to remind everybody of the traditions back home. The organizers were dressed traditionally. While the men wore mundus, shawls, and shirts, the women wore off-white and maroon silk saris. 

Shri Rathnakar Shetty delivered the welcome address, after which the members of the organizing committee lit the lamp. The women members of the organizing committee Mamatha Surendra Shetty, Veena Sukumar Shetty, Kirti Prasad Shetty, Pavitra Jairaj Shetty, and Tishori Prasidh Bhandary sang a song in praise of Lord Ganesha and chanted the shanthi mantra. 

The organizers also created a traditional Bunt kitchen with 2 fireplaces, kitchen utensils of iron and clay, a grinding stone, a bisale, spoons made of coconut shells, coconut grater, knives, earthen pots for curds, a wooden churner, a traditional rope hanger to store seasonal vegetables, and various traditional utensils such as panathe, kalasha, chenna mane, akki mudi, ser and paav, tadpe, semia maker, thonduru, bharani, peyrda dabba, appa kaavli, chakli acchu, banale, dosa kaavali, kudpu, pane, gundadha kotte, kathi kuruve, and others. 

A wide range of delicacies were served, and some of them were happala, sandige, pickle, raitha, saar, sambar, white rice, boiled rice, potato batane gassi, basle kaipu, kadle manouli, meen kaidina, denji kajpu, mutton kurma, meen puli munchi, kori saar, kori sukka, holige, ghee rice, padangi payasa, along with chutneys such as yetti chutney, kukkuda chutney, bolanji chutney, kempu munchi chutney, and others were served. A slide show of various dishes of Karnataka was shown during the food festivals. 

A number of traditional games such as kutti donne, tonka, jubilee, lagori, kara darpuna, shakti pradarshana, tarai katta, kho kho, and others were organized. Various competitions were organized for children as well as adults. An attempt was made to organize a kori katta; unfortunately, the roosters refused to fight. 

Shri Rathnakar Shetty proposed the vote of thanks after a concluding speech by Dr. Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Shetty. Mr. Ashok Shetty compered the event in Tulu.