Encouraged by the success of the three previous annual festivals since 2008, the Indian Embassy is organizing its Fourth Festival of India in Buenos Aires on a more ambitious scale this year, running from tomorrow until December 13.
Handicrafts are always a central (and colourful) ingredient of any Indian festival — 40 Indian companies will participate in an exhibition organized by the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH), open to the public every day from 12-8pm at the Borges Cultural Centre, including live demonstrations by artisans in textile and glass painting, wood, metal and stone crafts, etc.
The festival is just in time to catch the 150th anniversary of the Nobel Literature Prize-winning Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore in the right year (he was actually born on May 8, 1861). The anniversary celebration will be held on December 10 at Villa Ocampo, now a UNESCO heritage site and the residence of Victoria Ocampo where Tagore spent two months in 1924 (obviously highlighting the relationship between the two literary personalities).
There will be a recital of Tagore’s poems by Gustavo Canzobre, an Argentine scholar, a talk by Axel Maimone, an Argentine expert and a Rabindra Sangeet concert. A reception with Indian food will follow. Rabindra Sangeet (a genre of music composed by Tagore and performed by a four-member group led by Ms. Sreyashi Mitra) will not limit its activities to this event but will be giving concerts at the Borges Centre as well as elsewhere.
What else? Manipuri, Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi and even Bollywood dances at the Borges Centre and elsewhere — all performed by Argentine enthusiasts rather than Indians. This Sunday (December 4) it will even hit the streets with an open-air performance of Indian classical dance along the historic Avenida de Mayo with the co-operation of City Hall.
On the same day there will be an open-air mega yoga show by some 15,000 people at the Planetarium Park in Palermo as from 11am in collaboration with the various Argentine yoga schools and again City Hall.
The famous Argentine yoga pop music group Yoga Rave will also give a concert.
Seminars on Indian culture, literature, Ayurveda and spiritualism are being organized in the Borges Centre auditorium, bringing together Argentine experts.
Also a Film Festival — Indian films with Spanish sub-titles will be shown everyday during the Festival period in one of the auditoriums of the Borges Centre. A Bollywood film production company UTV Pictures of Mumbai (Bombay) will send a representative to give a talk on the Indian film industry to Argentine counterparts — UTV are starting to take a very hard look at the Argentine market and locations.
At least as important as the artisans to any Indian event is the curry. A Food Festival is being organized at Sheraton Hotel. India’s Ministry of Tourism is sending two Chefs with Indian music and dance accompanying the meals.
The India Tourist Office, New York will have a stall at the Borges Centre to distribute tourism brochures and general information, as well as organizing a workshop for travel operators and “Incredible India” promotion activities.
Photos on India by five Argentine photographers will be exhibited at the Recoleta Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires.
Finally, two mega-events which belong more properly to other pages of this newspaper — a business and economic seminar on Monday afternoon at the Sheraton and an India Cup Golf Tournament at the prestigious Jockey Club on the following Monday (December 12).
Six tickets to India by Qatar Airways will be raffled at the business seminar, the Gala event and the golf tournament.
More information on the Embassy website : www.indembarg.org.ar, Facebook: www.facebook.com/Embajada-de-la-India-Buenos-Aires or contact Public Relations Officer Martina Siegrist.
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