The picturesque Kailasagiri Hill, with the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal in the backdrop, provided the perfect setting for ‘Sankranti sambaralu’ atop the hill on Tuesday.
Singapore Minister S. Iswaran and other members of the delegation from that country, who accompanied Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to the celebrations, organised by the Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA), were all praise for the rich cultural traditions like Haridasus, ‘Dhimsa’ dance ‘Puli veshagallu’, ‘gobbemalu’, ‘tappetagullu’, ‘gangireddulu’ and kite-flying in their colourful attire.
The members of the foreign delegation, both men and women, were seen clicking pictures of the folk artistes and posing for pictures with them to take the memories back home. The tastefully decorated bulls and the cart also caught the fancy of some of the members.
The traditional Sankranti dishes like ‘pulihora’, ‘ariselu’, ‘kajji kayalu’, ‘janthikalu’, ‘payasam’, ‘bellam garelu’, put out by Lions Club, seemed to have tickled the taste buds of the foreign delegates as they relished the preparations. Mr. Iswaran asked the hosts as to what the lime rice preparation (pulihora) was called.
The Chief Minister arrived at the venue by more than three hours late along with the delegation in a bus to the hilltop. The delegation was ushered into the venue and was taken around quickly. In about 15 minutes an announcement was made on the public address system asking the members of the Singapore delegation to board the bus.
The members were still busy with the traditional artistes clicking pictures and posing for photographs. On hearing the calls to board the bus, they had to leave the venue. The folk artistes too seemed disappointed for hardly being able to perform in front of the Chief Minister even though they had waited for his arrival for over three hours.
Ministers, MPs, MLA s and party leaders attended.
The tastefully decorated bulls catch the attention of the visitors
