The Al Khor Sports Stadium was in a festive mood last Thursday as about 5,000 people got together to celebrate the Qatar National Day.

The stadium glittered with the performances of schoolchildren, Al Khor community and Nepalese expatriates. Cheerful schoolchildren held Qatari flags in their hands, tattooed stickers on their faces and demonstrated their love for Qatar with marvellous performances.

Other activities included football, tug-of-war and athletic competitions. The celebrations were organised by the Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Interior (MoI). Nepal’s Acting Ambassador to Qatar Ganesh Parsad Dhakal also attended.

Students of Birla Public School, Bright Future Pakistani School, DPS-MIS and MES Indian School presented an assortment of cultural shows throughout the day. Each school showed seven performances in thematic parade: a Qatari national song, a general song and general show etc. The performances were different but their message seemed to be the same. They stoutly represented Qatar as the host of FIFA World Cup ’22 and encouraged and wished the country all the luck and strength to make the mega event successful.

The kids of the Bright Future Pakistani School designed a thrilling human camel and those of Birla Public School turned themselves into a Qatar Airways jet. The DPS-MIS pupils introduced Qatar as the richest and the most peaceful country. MES Indian School children performed a show in which they called Qatar as their second sweet home, while their next performance dealt with the tragic scene of terrorists attacking innocent schoolchildren in Pakistan. Their heart-touching performance touched the audience, with some brought to tears.

A panel of four judges — Abdul Rashid, Mohammed Menfooz Aassn, Zalak Mentar and Janaffe Mercado — awarded the MES Indian School the first prize, while Birla Public School and DPS-MIS finished second and third, respectively.

One of the judges said, “All the schoolchildren performed superbly and they got ranked with [very little difference] in marks.”

A football match was also held between the Nepali and Al Khor communities. Al Khor won the match.

The athletics competition was won by an Indian expat.

Sixteen teams from different communities, schools and companies participated in the tug-of-war event. The MES Indian School finished first, beating the Punglloyd Company.

A group of kids from Al Khor performed an amazing freestyle dance sequence and a cultural Arabic dance. The kids, aged three to seventeen, started slow so that everybody in the audience could follow their dance progression.

The Indonesian community in Al Khor performed a traditional Indonesian dance.

Likewise, the Indian Tamil Nadu dance group performed Silambattam, a folk dance, wearing dhotis and holding beating sticks. The dance was choreographed by Venkataraman.

Traffic Department Captain Abdul Waheed al-Anzi also gave a 15-minute-long speech on traffic rules and regulations of Qatar. During his speech, he provided some valuable traffic tips such as wearing seatbelts, not to put babies in the front seats, how to drive school buses in residential zones and to drive school buses away only after the dropped kid enters their home compounds. The traffic captain said they want to make Qatar an “accident-free country, or at least a country with the least number of accidents” in the world.

He said pedestrians should cross the road only after double checking the vehicles in both directions. “One should be cautious while crossing through dark and poorly-lit streets, wear helmets while driving motorbikes and follow the cultural rules of the country,” he said. He cautioned that people breaking traffic rules in Qatar are punished as per the law and irrespective of their nationalities.

Nepali groups representing different non-resident organisations showcased more than 15 performances at the event. The first performance from Nepalese side was a group dance carried out by the artistes of Nepalese Cultural Centre (NCC). RK Lama, Babin Rai, Bishnu Bhattarai, Pandab Thapa and Ninal Payal played musical instruments while Birendra Shrestha, Ashish Rijal and Krishna Upreti gave vocals to a patriotic song they performed.

Artistes with Tharu Welfare Council (TWC) enacted a traditional farming showcase in which Ghanshyam Chaudhary gave the voice, and Arun Kumar Chaudhary, Pramod Pashwan, Moti Mandal, Bhagi Mandal and Prabash Chaudhary performed. Their performance was true to Nepal as an agro-based economy, with plough and shovel being its symbols. The country, despite being rich in agricultural land and other resources, is still unable to tap into its resources and imports most of its cereals from neighbouring India.

Singer Aruna KC sang a melodious song to the audience. After her performance, excited, she said, “I never imagined I would perform before such a large mass.”

Newa Pucha-Qatar performed an ethnic dance along with a beating Dhime (ethnic percussion instrument from Nepal).

Nepali students from various schools — Sandhya Sharma, Romin Gaire, Puja KC, Pujana KC and Dikshya Khadka, Kanchan Thapa and Karuna Thapa and Ashmita Nepal — performed a Qatari song. Choreographed by Kiran Lama, the school dancers aged 4-14 wore dresses with painted Qatari flag. The kids had only rehearsed for two days, but pulled off the performance like a professional troupe.

The Tamu Society presented the time-honoured Tamu dance, performed by Parmi Tamu, Anita Tamu, Gora Tamu and Krishna Tamu.

The Nonresident Nepalese Tamang Society (NNTS) performed a dance led by Kiran Lama and supported by 12 artistes.

Artistes attached with the Nepal Sunuwar Society (NSS) — Dilip Sunuwar, Jaya Kanta Sunuwar, Bhakta Bahadur Sunuwar, Bil Sunuwar and Purna Kala Sunuwar — performed a 25-minute-long farming dance.

Chumlung, a traditional dance presented by Kirat Yakthung Chumlung was beautifully executed by Alima Limbu, Januka Magar, Anju Rai, Sohit Limbu and Sukh Bahadur Limbu. The dance was performed on the beats of dholak, a Nepali percussion instrument, and dancers sang rhythmically in rows. Another ethnic dance, Sakela, was performed by Kanchan Rai, Padam Rai, Prabin Rai, Jerry Rai and Dhiraj Rai wearing indigenous Kirat dresses. Jhakri and Hurra dances were performed by Ramesh Magar, Babin Rai, Bijaya Magar, Mohan Magar, Pinki Magar and Kanchan Rai of Nepalese Magar Society.

Birendra Shrestha, the NRNA Tamu Star 2013, sang two songs from his studio album “Thought”. Folk singer Dhruba BC also performed a song. Hemanta Lama danced on a remixed song. After his dance, an Indian expat went to him, invited him to perform at a show scheduled in January and promised to pay him QR1,500 per show.

The main attraction for the Nepali expats at the celebrations was singer Nalina Chitrakar. She sang two of her classic hits, mixing four dialects of Nepal — Newari, Bhojpuri, Sherpa and Tamang. She was in Qatar just for the Qatar National Day performance.

An Indonesian expat who was enjoying the show with his two children said, “There are not many options [for entertainment] available to single expats, especially workers. Celebrations like [this on Qatar National Day] give them a chance to enjoy and break the [monotony in their lives].” He added, “Cultural and folk performances make one remember their country.”

Nepali worker Raju Thapa felt that the programme helped him with his loneliness. “Every year I eagerly wait for this day and watch [the show] throughout,” he said.

Another member of the audience, a teacher at the MES Indian School, said his work schedule is hectic. “Today’s programme broke my usual routine and my boredom. The pleasant weather also made me cheerful.”

 


 

Related Story