Curtains to go up on Kerala-Delhi heritage fest

A three-day Kerala- Delhi Cultural Heritage Festival will be held from October 14 to 16 at Connaught Place in New Delhi.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A three-day Kerala- Delhi Cultural Heritage Festival will be held from October 14 to 16 at Connaught Place in New Delhi.Cultural Affairs Minister A K Balan said the festival, a brainchild of the government, will showcase the cultural heritage of Kerala with the cooperation of the Delhi  Government.The first edition of the festival was held in Hyderabad last year.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Delhi Chief Minister  Aravind Kejriwal will jointly inaugurate the event.  Malayali Organisations in the national capital, various institutions under the State Cultural Department,  Archaeology Department and the Museum Department will also join hands for the fest.Seminars,  expatriate Keralites’ meet,  exhibitions,  film shows, documentary shows,  Kerala folk art forms,  Gothrolsvam,  Mattannur Sankaran Kutty’s  percussion ensemble,  Ratna Sree Aiyer’s  tabla recital, Rashmi Satheesh’s bamboo music,  musical dance opera,  a dance form based on  Raja Ravi Varma’s   painting ‘Galaxy of Musicians’,  will be staged as part of the festival. A mega show featuring 300 artists will be the highlight of the event.  Connaught Place, Central Park,  NDMC Hall and the Kerala House are the venues. On October 15,  CPM politburo member M A Baby will moderate a cultural dialogue at 9.30 am.   Justice Kurien Joseph,  CPI leader Binoy Viswam,   writers Sachithanandan, Anand, Zakharia and C Radhakrishnan will attend.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Maneesh Sisodia will inaugurate the valedictory function at 6.30 pm on 16th. MPs A K Antony,  Suresh Gopi,  P Karunakaran and  P K Kunhalikutty will attend the event.
Balan said the Kerala- Karnataka cultural heritage festival will be held in Bengaluru this year itself. Union Minister Alphonse Kannanthanam will inaugurate the  Expatriate Meet at the Central Park at 6.30 pm.  Ministers A K Balan and  Ramachandran Kadannappally, and C N Jayadevan MP will be present.  Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien,  Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi,   Kerala’s Resident Commissioner Biswas Mehta,  Cultural affairs secretary Rani George, Omcherry N N Pillai and V Abraham will also be present.