Doha: KMCA holds fun-filled Family Fiesta-2015

Doha: The Karnataka Muslim Welfare Association (KMCA), an affiliate organization of Indian Cultural Association, Doha Qatar, held a Family Fiesta with cooking competition and henna competition for women, drawing competition for children, along with martial arts and sports demonstration and magic show.

The event also had a Bazaar with 14 exclusive shops, selling Delicious Home Cooked Food by Hidayah Foundation Women’s Wing, Snacks Stall by South Kanara Muslim Welfare Association, Books Stall by Indian Friends Circle, Games Stall by Hannan Cricket Club, various Garments & Clothing Stalls by Individuals including designer collections such as Armando, Anum Boutique, Babagori collection, Elegance ZB, Signature, etc. Indian and Pakistani Ready-Made collections, Trendy Accessories, Latest Hijab & Abayas, Home Décor items and Art Pieces Made with Recycled materials.

The event started at 2:30pm with competition registrations. The Competitions started at 3:15 with simultaneous Cooking competitions & Drawing Competitions, followed by Henna Competition. The competitions concluded with judging & score tallying completed by 6pm.

The Cooking Competitions were held in Four Separate Categories; Entrée, Main Course, Desserts & Innovation Dish. With an overwhelming participation, there were more than 80 dishes by participants and every dish had an elaborate presentation. The Dishes were judged by Professional Chefs from Hotel Mercure Grande & QAFCO Catering Services based on Overall Appeal, Presentation/ Appearance, Recipe Execution, Taste, Aroma & the Recipe and its Complexity.

The Judges took their time in marking the dishes and winners emerged upon final tally of the three judges scores. The winners are as follows;

In Entrée , the First Place Winning Entrée was won by Shehnaaz Parveen and the Second Best Entrée was from Sana Parveen

In Main Course, The First Place Winning Dish was won by Safiya Abdul Majeed and the Second Best dish was from Arshia Zafar

In the Desserts Category, the First Place Winning Desert was won by Salma Shahjahan and the second Best Dessert was from Arshia Zafar.

In the Innovations Category, the First Place Winning Innovative Dish was by Tabassum Shafi and the next most Innovative Dish was by Afia Munaf.

The Competition also crowned a KMCA MasterChef for the most winning places and Ms. Arshia Zafar was crowned the KMCA MasterChef Title for Year 2015.

The Children’s Drawing Competition was held under two age group, Sub-Juniors & Juniors. The Theme for the Drawing Competitions was Save the Environment. The Subjuiors were given a topic on the spot based on the theme as “Trees are Important” and the Juniors were given the topic on the spot as “ Save Plant Earth”. With more than 60 children taking part in the drawing competitions, it was the most creative ideas shaping on the canvas. The drawing competition was judged by professional academia in the field and the winners are as follows;

In Sub Junior category; The First Place Winning Drawing was by Soha Samiulla and Jewel Pinto bagged the second place.

In Juniors Category; the First Place Winning Drawing was by Astra Pinto and Nidal Ahmed bagged the second place.

The Henna Competition was a single category competition; the participants were all given the same template of the hand to be presented on a 20x20 Ceramic Tile. The Judges for the competition were owners of professional beauty Salons, the winner of the best henna design in first place was Shifa Ahmed, and Shakira Ashraf won the second best design.

The Stage function, prize distribution ceremony was held in the Bazaar Grounds. The Chief Guest of the Event was Mr. Meshaal Nasser Al-Khalifa, a very dynamic personality and an accomplished leader, he is The Assistant Secretary General for Administrative Support at Qatar Olympic Committee. The Guest of Honor for the evening was Mrs. Nasreen Shabbir, a personality who embodies selfless service, she is an entrepreneur in her own respects and owns & runs a School for special needs children in Qatar, As this event was primarily a Women & Children’s Competition, it was but apt to have such an accomplished woman personality.

The KMCA President, Mr. Niyaz Ahmed Greeted and accompanied the Guests to the Dias and delivered a welcome speech where he highlighted the importance of community events especially for women. He also emphasized the need for environmental awareness campaigns and the need to educate our children in that aspect of responsible living. He outlined KMCA’s Environment campaign as part of the Indian Cultural Centre’s Initiative towards Qatar Environment Day and highlighted that the event is in alignment towards managing waste responsibly by segregation of Paper Plastic & Food Waste. He greeted the gathering and congratulated all the participants for their hard work & support.

The Guest of Honor, Mr. Meshaal Al-Khalifa addressed the gathering and highlighted his delight and pleasure in attending such community events and praised the Indian Expat community for showing such fervor display of brotherhood. He congratulated all the participants for making the event a success.

The Chief Guest, Mrs. Nasreen Shabbir, addressed the gathering expressing her thanks to KMCA for inviting her and bestowing upon her the privilege of being a chief guest. She emphasized on the need to empower the women of the community, nurture their skills & sufficient exposure for their talents to beam and to better prepare them for the future. She highlighted the need to soften oneself towards charitable causes, especially towards the development of the needy children, be it in education, health or skills development. She noted that we as expat community, can help by sharing our professional expertise and by getting involved at the grassroots level, thereby making the change happen that we desire. She expressed that she was delighted to see the overwhelming response by the public to the event.

Mr. Hassan Chougle, a prominent businessperson & a KMCA Patron distributed mementos to the judges of the cooking competition, Chef Assaad Saad, Hotel Mercure Grande, Mr. Thomas Philippe, F&B Manager Hotel Mercure Grande & Chef Querinho Mendonca from QAFCO F&B Catering Services.

The Guest of Honor presented a Memento to Mr. Sharat Chandra Kudru, Proprietor of Loyola International School, who provided the venue with all facilities for the event. His contribution & co-operation to the success of the event was invaluable.

The Prize Distribution was conducted thereafter and was announced by Mrs. Ruksana Parveen, all prizes were given out by the Chief Guest along with the KMCA President.

Mrs. Masooda presented the Vote of thanks and she thanked all the guests visiting the event, participating organizations & Their Presidents, Mr. Abdul Majeed from SKMWA, Mr. Ashmath Ali from KTWA, Mr. Abdulla Monu from Hidayah Foundation, Mr. Shakir AbdurRahman from Indian Friends Circle, Mr. Khader from Hannan Cricket Club, Mr. Nazeer Pasha from QISF, Mr. Arif from Maymar Friends Circle & Mr. Shaikh Mudassir Ahmed from Qatar Karnataka Friends.

She also Thanked the various expat associations representatives for their support, Mr. Divakar Poojari & Mr. Fayaz Ali from Indian Cultural Centre, Mr. Ravi Shetty from Tulu Koota and Mr. Chandrashekar Shetty from Bunts Qatar.

Mr. Arun Kumar was thanked for his gracious presence & his support, Mrs. Milan Arun for all her advice & support to the KMCA Ladies Wing and her presence throughout the event, Dr. Sanjay Kudru for his support in providing Audio Sound System, Mr. Girish Nair for his help in Printing Materials, Local Purchase & Prize Distribution, Mr. Junaid for his efforts in bring the Trophies from Bengaluru & Mr. Ismail & HBK Volunteers for all the logistical support for venue prepapration, parking attendants, waste management & security services.

The Judges, Mr. Ravindran N. & Mrs. Shilpa Mathur for the Drawing Competition, Henna Competition Judges - Mrs. Latha, Propreiter Shingari Beauty Parlour & Mrs. Shalini Fernandes, Propreiter Tenhraan Beauty Parlour and for providing Gift Vouchers for the Henna Competition Winners, The Judges for Cooking Competition, Chef Assaad Saad, Executive Chef Mercure Grande, Mr. Thomas Philippe, F&B Manager Mercure Grande & Chef Querinho Mendonca, QAFCO

Mr. Sharath Kudru was thanked for providing an excellent venue, Loyola International School for the event.

Mrs. Masooda also thanked the KMCA event sponsors M/s. Euro Parts, M/s. Golden Trading, M/s. Texas Technical Services, M/s. ALM, M/s. Qatar Design Consortium, M/s. QCON & Mazza Restaurant for providing Dine-in Vouchers for all the winners & judges. The KMCA Ladies Wing & the Executive Committee for their dedication and hardwork into be making the concept a reality.

The Event was programmed & coordinated primarily by the KMCA Ladies Wing Coordinators Mrs. Aisha Rafique, Mrs. Ruksana Parveen, Mrs. Masooda Ali, Mrs. Reshma Banu, Mrs. Rehana Fayaz, Mrs. Sana Zia-ul-Haq & Mrs. Masiha Ashfaq.

The evening also saw a brief Environment campaign flash-interaction by Tulu Koota & a Magic Show by Mr. Jayan Orma. The Children were mesmerized by the Magician’s Talent and were left wanting more from Mr. Jayan.

The Event closed doors at 9:30 pm with all stalls being swarmed with shoppers for the variety of clothing, Garments, Accessories etc. The Guests were thoroughly entertained and went home with a sumptuous fill of Home Cooked Food Served at the Bazaar.

KMCA is holding their annual Blood Donation Campaign on Friday the 13th of Feb 2015 at Hamad Medical Corporation Blood Donor Unit from 7:30 am to 11am. All are invited to be part of this noble humanitarian cause, Give Blood, Save Lives!