PRESS RELEASE TOURISM 7th December, 2014

Revelries mark culmination of Heritage Festival

HE, the of Haryana, Shri Kaptan Singh Solanki, drew curtains on the 9th Pinjore Heritage Festival at on Sunday evening. A warm welcome was rendered to the Governor following which he lighted the lamp on stage in the presence of Smt Latika Sharma, MLA, , Shri S.S. Dhillon, Additional Chief Secretary, , Tourism department and Smt Sumita Misra, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Haryana & Managing Director, Haryana Tourism. Smt Neelam Pardeep Kasni, Secretary to Governor, Haryana and Sh Vivek Atray, Deputy Commissioner, were also present on the occasion.

Fervour and excitement marked the concluding day of the 9th Pinjore Heritage Festival as the young and old, both, reached the Pinjore Gardens in droves on a bright Sunday. The Festival promised to be a good outing with the grand setting of the Gardens as lively ambience blended with cultural programmes, innovative competitions and engaging activities.

Mrs Sumita Misra, Managing Director, Haryana Tourism, stated that the turnout of the Festival was quite good and the footfall had surpassed last year’s mark, which proves that this calendar event of Haryana Tourism has grown on popularity in the region.

Students from various schools presented engrossing one-act play (nukkad natak) with an underlying social message while the drawing competition had school children depict different scenes of the Festivals of in an impressive way. The competitions for school students like greeting card making, Tohran making, vase decoration and clay modeling, introduced for the first time in the Festival, saw an enthusiastic participation from students.

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Showstoppers of the day were the senior citizens — special invitees of the two-day Pinjore Heritage Festival — who took part in the best- dressed person competition. The senior citizens exhibited lot of stamina and energy as they shook their legs on stage to foot tapping music, sang songs and played instruments like tumba. “This is a fantastic event, and we really enjoyed the performances and other attractions. We look forward to come back to this event next year,” says Surinder Kaur, a senior citizen.

After the senior citizens show, the kids in the age group of 3-8 years took many hearts away as they sashayed the ramp in their pretty outfits during the kids fashion show.

The visitors enjoyed mouth-watering dishes and street food at the Food Court. Chokhi Dhani had also set up a stall that had authentic Rajasthani dishes like dal bhatti churma, gatte ki sabzi and Jodhpuri karri for the visitors.

Revving up the entertainment quotient, a photo booth with an impressive backdrop was set up for visitors to get their pictures clicked. The dance troupes from Uttarakhand and Kashmir gave riveting performances.

Popular singer Kamal Khan, the star performer of the evening programme enthralled the audience by blending folk Punjabi and Hindi songs with techno music. Khan is a renowned playback singer, who had earlier won a TV reality singing competition in 2010. He sang to a packed house and sang medley of numbers starting from Preet ki laat mohe.., Tera Ishq Sufiyana and Main rang sarbato ka and so on.

The Crafts Bazaar was another crowd puller, as people got to shop from an array of pocket-friendly handlooms and handicraft stalls set up at the Festival. Tanu, a textile designer from Faridabad, said, “I displayed ethnic stuff in ladies suits and dupattas with block printing on it that the visitors really appreciated and have simply grabbed these.”

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