Food, fun and frolic mark Chandigarh Carnival

Chandigarh, Nov 25 (UNI) The most eagerly awaited educative and entertaining annual event - Chandigarh Carnival, full of fest and feast, cultural pageantry and artistic activities, got off to a colourful start at Leisure Valley, here this morning.

Punjab Governor and Union Territory (UT) Administrator Gen S F Rodrigues (retd) performed the inaugural ceremony amidst gaiety and enthusiasm.

The glamorous and fun-filled ceremony was marked by performances of Bhangra and Giddha, beating of drums, playing of bands and display of distinctive art forms by artistes from different states.

Accompanied by Mrs Jean Rodrigues and senior officers of the Administration, including Home Secretary Krishna Mohan, Finance Secretary SK Sandhu, CITCO MD Jasbir Singh Bir, North Zone Culture Centre Director R T Zindal and Tourism Director Vivek Attray, Mr Rodrigues took round of the aesthetically and beautifully decorated stalls put up by various governmental and non-governmental organisations to promote their activities and marketing.

The inaugural function of the two-day extravaganza attracted many people, including men, women and children attired in regional costumes, from different walks of life.

General Rodrigues, during his visit to various stalls, interacted with the organisers and suggested the need to utilise their service-oriented activities for the empowerment of common people. At the stall put up by the State Legal Service Authority, he told the team managers to actively involve themselves in giving legal aid to the poor and needy and also asked the Home Secretary, UT, to institutionalise a system for ensuring effective delivery services to the people, through this novel programme.

During his visit to the art and craft stalls put up by different organisations, he instructed the Home Secretary and Director, Museum and Art Gallery, to evolve a comprehensive programme for training students of different schools at a common platform in various skills and engage them in crafting paper articles including greetings cards and posters.

The annual carnival event, this year, has many novelties with a focus on Singapore and Himachal Pradesh Pavillions and rural tourism.

Many other merrymaking and learning activities made it a festive manifestation of the nature and harmony characterizing the national spirit, culture heritage and adventurism.

The event, marked by folk performances by the artistes of about 10 states organised by the North Zone Culture Centre, has other attractions like camel ride, puppet show, stick walking, bazigar, magic show, fun games, children traffic park, fun bikes and mobikes, live singing, sufiana and classical singing, mask making workshop, competitions and contests, tourism quiz and on-the- spot painting.

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