QUEEN'S ROAD: Sankethi Utsav, a two-day annual festival of the Sankethi community, will be held on the Maratha Hostel campus, Bull Temple Road, from Saturday.
Dr Vasundhara Bhupathi will inaugurate the convention at 9 am by preparing chomai (traditional noodles).
R K Geethamani, managing trustee of the Sankethi Mahila Samaja, said, "National Teachers' Award winner H R Shyamala will be the chief guest. We also have competitions in Karnatak music, devotional songs and other arts for children."
She said women would wear saris in the traditional style. Chomai and Kolakatte (bitter kadubu-like dumplings) will also be the highlights. "Even men are welcome to participate," she said.
The 35-year-old Bengaluru Sankethi Mahila Samaja was formalised as a trust eight years ago. Currently it has 435 members.
"We don't have a particular space for regular meetings. We have some 15 trustees who meet regularly. About 150 of us meet in Banashankari II Stage on the second or third Saturday of the month," said Geethamani.
The main objective of the trust is women's empowerment. "If the woman of the house is happy, then the whole family is happy. A woman needs to understand how the world works to handle her home better," said Geetha.
The trust also organises discourses, and cooking and art classes. They also do sports and quiz contests. "May is meant for games, when we have our annual sports day. The general body meeting is in June. We also have a quiz competition in December," she said.
The trust also works for social causes. "The leftover money from the utsav will go towards the admission fee of about 30 children belonging to lower income groups. We usually manage to collect about `2 lakh from the utsav. We also have members who regularly donate for children's education. Every month, we donate money for 12 elderly people for their medical facilities," said Geethamani.
The trust also gives away 'Prathibha Puraskara'Â or talent awards for children who score good marks in subjects like physics, chemistry and Sanskrit.
