Dharohar'09

Some people celebrate Festivals,..
Some celebrate Promotions,..
Others may celebrate Victory!!..
But here at Pantnagar,..
We celebrate
…“CULTURE”…

DHAROHAR...

Celebrating India, Celebrating Culture...

Dharohar is the 3-day Grand Festival celebrated once a year. Dharohar, as the name suggests, is an extravagant platform which the SPIC – MACAY, Pantnagar Chapter provides here at Pantnagar where various divine arts of India are juxtaposed beautifully and people from different places muster to celebrate this hidden form of knowledge and happiness. Not only people from nearby stations like Nainital, Haldwani, Bareilly or Rudrapur come to visit us at Dharohar, but also many from Dehradun, Haridwar and Roorkee, and some even from as far as Chennai in South India come, participate and take pleasure of this unique festival. Many Echelons are also invited here as critics in different events of Dharohar. Dharohar covers all the aspects of Culture, may that be Celebrative, Emotional or Literary, ranging from kiteflying, mehendi, rangoli, painting & fine-arts to dance & music, movies, plays, theatre, drama to baithaks, lecture-demonstrations, debates & speeches and Open-House Discussions. The 3-day festival’s every night is ornamented and embellished by a very beautifully orchestrated live-concert by Renounced Cultural Artists. It is not only the grandness of Dharohar that attracts people here at Pantnagar, but it is the unprecedented feeling that this festival is able to inculcate in everyone’s heart in just 3-Days.

DHAROHAR: Event Details

‘Dharohar’ is a three day fest comprising events that represent a wide tapestry of the Indian cultural heritage. A detailed description of the events is given below.

Artist – Performances Enlight the Night
This is the most highlighted event of Dharohar. It adorns & lightens the nights of the festival. 2 artists’ concerts, each on the first 2 nights of the festival add grist to the unprecedented feeling of the festival, emblazoning the environment. All the concerts take place in the Gandhi Auditorium of the Pantnagar University. Following are the artist-profiles of the artists who came in Dharohar ’09:

Mrs. Bharti Shivaji: Initially beginning her research under Sri Kavalam Narayana Panikker, one of the most illustrious authorities on theater in the country, Bharati has been researching in Mohiniyattam for over two decades which eventually became the cause of her life. Bharati's research into the cultural legacy of Kerala culminated in the publication of her book 'The Art Of Mohiniyattam', making it one of the most illuminating works on the form & spirit of Mohiyattam. Bharati has added a new dimension to Mohiniyattam by successfully presenting innovative group choreographic productions. She has established the CENTRE FOR MOHINIYATTAM, which is exclusively devoted to the training & propagation of Mohiniyattam. She has been conferred one of India's highest honour - the title of 'PADMASHRI' - for her tireless efforts, devotion & commitment to the cause of Mohiniyattam.

Mrs. Bharti Shivaji performing in Dharohar

Pt. Shri Bholanath Mishra: Coming from a musical family of Harihar Pur near Azamgarh (UP) and holding allegiance to Benaras gharana, the youthful dynamic maestro, Bholanath Mishra has all the credentials for being popular among the proponents of pristine purity in music, light classical genres and semi like Thumri, Kajri and Chaiti. Now settled in Delhi and working with AIR as a senior staff artist since 1993 Bholanath Mishra, has always praised SPIC-MACAY in is talks.

Pt. Bholanath Mishra performing in Dharohar

The 3rd night of Dharohar is the Exclusive Night, which marks the completion of the festival. It is the 60 members executive-body of SPIC-MACAY that finally gives a lasting touch to the festival by showing their absolute talents in the form of Dance, Music, Poetry, Singing, Drama(Theatrics)
etc., representing various forms of the same in India. Now lets have a look at the events that takes place the whole day for continuous 3 days. But before that, lets have a look at these two photographs of the Audiences taken from the front and back of the Gandhi Auditorium (excluding the Balcony), enjoying these concerts.


ALANKRITI:
‘ALANKRITI’ is a collective name given to all open air events hosted during the fest. The individual events are listed below.

AAROHAN: The kite flying competition. The event is held at Gandhi Park, which is the central park for the university. It lies right next to the Gandhi auditorium, where all stage events are hosted.

MEHENDI: The traditional mehendi design competition requires
participants to design patterns with Mehendi (the traditional dye) on the palms of their team mates.

RANGOLI: Colors are provided to the participants. They are then required to design ‘Rangoli’ patterns on the space provided.
Both events will be held at ‘Gandhi Park’, which as mentioned, is the
University’s central park.

ART MELA: An art mela is held, at Gandhi Park. Colors and drawing sheets are provided to the participants, at the venue. Not only children but people of all ages take part enthusiastically, especially in this event.

ANTARBODH ‘the literary fest’

Under the banner of ‘the literary fest’, we generally orchestrate two-three events,

Debate: An inter-school-college debate is organized as a part of the fest. Schools & Colleges from Nainital, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Roorkee, Dehradun and other parts of the state are invited. It is held over a span of three days, the first day being eliminations; the second day marks the start of the competition with the 1st round and the third day, being the final debate.

Here’s a snap from the Debate Finals at Dharohar’09

Samvaad ‘the open house discussion’: This is a very special & integral part of Dharohar. With the very basic concept of an Open House discussion, it forms a movement that allows precarious thoughts to move beyond creating a healthy environment by sharing of thoughts of the people from different professions and fields.

The Participants listening carefully to the answers of their questions trying to clear their ambiguities to move into new dimensions

Participants include university students, professors and school students participating in the festival. Honourable Industrialists, Echelons from Political Parties and Government Administration, Editors of Newspapers and VIPs of the University Administration are invited to cope-up with the healthy environment of the discussion. The discussion provides an apt platform for interaction between college students, school students, faculty members and the VIPs invited, thus allowing exchange of ideas and genesis of a sound public opinion, based on perspectives from a large spectrum.

The Honourable Guests, giving rise to new thoughts and clearing the obscurities in the minds of the participants

JHAROKHA ‘the film festival’

It is the unique tradition of showing movies that the SPIC-MACAY Pantnagar Chapter follows since its existence. With a unique identity to show movies in Gandhi Auditorium, our society is praised by all.

Viewers enjoying ‘Mother India’

As per the tradition goes, the first movie shown has to be an Old-Pick, and the second movie, a New-Pick. At Dharohar ’09, the first movie that was shown was ‘Mother India’ and the second movie shown was ‘Swades’. The turnout for the movie is huge.

‘Swades’ on - screen

JHANAK‘the folk dance competition’

India, a nation so ethnic, supports a culture which is diversely beautiful, albeit being cosmopolitan in content and context. Hence being a multiracial community in itself, it proudly presents the best token of being it, i.e. through different & unique Dance-forms every race possesses. We hereby provide a platform where different folks can show their dance forms. Various colleges and schools of the state are expected to participate.

Solo-Dance competition

Group-Dance competition

SPIC- MACAY Pantnagar Chapter is thankful to you for going through this event-report, patiently. Also we would like you to know that we always keep a vigil on advices regarding improvements or any sort of addition to this festival.