Rival Keralite college alumni groups face off for Onam celebrations

September 21, 2012

Rival_Keralits

Dubai, September 21: This Friday, the Malayali community will witness two mega Onam programmes organised by two rival college alumni organisations representing thousands of former college students from Kerala.

There are hundreds of community associations, formal and informal, representing various sects, regions, religions and political parties, but the cut-throat competition between the All Kerala Colleges Alumni Federation (Akcaf) and Federation of Kerala Colleges Alumni (Fekca) is keenly watched by the Keralite community, as the latter was formed four years ago by a group of disgruntled Akcaf members.

It is somewhat similar to the proverbial David versus Goliath fight or rather David Thomas versus Sani Mathew competition (names of Fekca and Akcaf presidents respectively). Both are trying to outsmart the other by roping in celebrities, authors, artists and sponsors to organise the best-ever Onam festival for Keralites. Both the programmes, one in the Al Nasr Leisureland and the other in Sheikh Rashid Auditorium, will be inaugurated by Indian Consul General Sanjay Verma.

While the parent organization (Akcaf) has been organising Onam programmes regularly for almost 14 years, the younger Fekca group is just entering its fourth year of Onam celebrations. While Akcaf claims membership exceeding 32,000 alumni representing 57 colleges in various districts of Kerala, the four-year old Fekca does not make tall claims about their numbers but insist that they are as strong as the other organisation. Both the celebrations are in the Oud Metha area of Karama, on the same day and almost at the same time. Even the programmes’ contents are almost similar.

A number of film personalities have been flown in to add colour to the festivities which ‘athapookkalam’ (floral carpet competition), honouring prominent businessmen and sponsors and other typical Onam programmes.

“It is only a coincidence that Fekca and Akcaf Onam programmes fall on the same Friday and in adjacent venues. There is no competition of any sort and we both are working independently to present the best Onam programmes in town. For the past three years we had different dates, but this year we could not fix the programme on any other date,” said David Thomas, Fekca president.

‘Thirumulkazhcha’, as Akcaf’s programme is called, will feature Malayalam poet Sachidananthan as the keynote speaker for the 14th edition of Onam celebrations. They are also projecting Malayalam film actor Suresh Gopi, young upcoming actress Bhama and Renjith, a movie director, according to Advocate Backer Ali, general secretary, Akcaf.

“We are inviting only selectively because if all our members come for the Onam programme, we may need a big football ground. Each of the college alumni is given a quota and they will also participate in the Onam procession with several cultural programmes,” said Anoop Anil Devan, general convener of Akcaf’s ‘Thirumulkazhcha’.

Fekca is bringing yet another different Onam show by bringing together great talents from Kerala including renowned film director Hariharan who has completed 40 years in Malayalam film industry.

“Other film celebrities participating in our Onam 2012 are actors Narain and Indrajith, upcoming actress Remya Nambeeshan, actress from the UAE Asha Sharath, violinist C S Anuroop, actor and comedian Ramesh Pisharady, Sajan Palluruthy and singer Sreenath,” said R Vijaya Kumar, general secretary of Fekca.

Fekca’s Onam convener Manoj Moolamkunnu has been very active despite his partial physical disability. “We are only four years old but our Onam will be better than Akcaf’s,” he says.

Both the Onam programmes will serve a feast for several thousands members and non-member invitees. Both groups are claiming special Onam menus of 20 plus items.

About a week ago, the Onam programmes started with a floral carpets competition in which several teams representing various alumni and associations participated. “We had entries for ‘athapookalam’ from all colleges. The other group did not have enough colleges to compete. Their competition was open for other community associations,” claimed an Akcaf member.

“We are only a four-year old association but our programmes are colourful as theirs. They have been around from 1999, we are ten years younger to them. However, our programmes are better than theirs,” claimed a Fekca official.

Fekca is making its presence felt in the field of charity too. Last year, the organisation built a house for a poor Keralite and they are planning something similar this year too.

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Flight chartered by Thumbay Group and BCF repatriates 186 Kannadigas stranded in UAE

Media Release

July 25,2020

In a humanitarian gesture to help fellow citizens in distress, the first in the series of chartered
flights arranged by Thumbay Group, UAE and the Bearys Cultural Forum (BCF) Trust,
Mangalore to repatriate stranded Kannadigas in the UAE took off from Ras Al Khaimah
International Airport in the wee hours of 21st July 2020. The flight was fully occupied, with 186 passengers, all of them desperate to fly back to India for various reasons.

The initiative was conceived and implemented under the leadership of Dr. Thumbay Moideen - Founder President of Thumbay Group & Founder Patron of BCF and Dr. B K Yusuf, the
President of BCF. The flight was organized on a purely charitable basis, with all necessary
steps and precautions in place to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers. Thumbay Group assigned its fleet of buses to transport the passengers free of charge from their residences in Dubai, Sharjah and Ajman to the airport. The organizers also provided free meals and refreshments to the passengers, in addition to PPE kits and face-shields distributed free of
charges.

The passengers on the first flight included many elderly individuals, people with serious
illnesses like heart-related health issues and diabetes, pregnant ladies and little children as well as people who had lost their jobs and those with expired visas. Dr. B K Yusuf – BCF President, Dr. Kaup Mohammed - BCF General Secretary, other office bearers of BCF, as well as Thumbay Group’s representatives Mr. Farhad C – Director of the Hospitality Division of
Thumbay Group and Engr. Farwaz P. C. – COO of the Construction Division were present at
the airport to see off the first group of passengers.

Commenting on the initiative, Dr. Thumbay Moideen said, “This joint initiative of Thumbay
Group and BCF is to support our fellow Kannadigas desperate to fly back home. We are happy that we have been able to reach out to many of them, to help them fly home to their families. We thank the Governments of the UAE and India, and the Indian Consulate, Dubai, for their support in making this happen. In the coming days, many more stranded Kannadigas would be repatriated under this joint initiative.”
Dr. B K Yusuf thanked Dr. Thumbay Moideen and the office-bearers and members of BCF for
their efforts to make the initiative a success.

“We are proud that this initiative has brought relief to many Kannadigas and their families today. BCF is grateful to Thumbay Group for its support and partnership for all our humanitarian programs for the support of the needy.”

Dr. Kaup Mohammed said that it was a matter of pride that the much-awaited Thumbay-BCF
repatriation flight had been carried out successfully. “Measures have been taken to ensure the safety of the flight and its passengers throughout the journey,” he said. He also thanked all the social organizations including Bhatkal Jamath, BCCI, BWF, KCF, DKSC, Kodagu Kannadigas,
Kannadiga Help Line, Dubai Konkans and KSS, for their support. He specially thanked Mr.
Syed Hassan Razeen, the owner of ARISTOCRAT Travels for his support in the ticketing,
boarding and related processes. On behalf of Milano Optics Group and Maxcare, free gift
hampers were distributed to selected passengers.

The passengers were received at Mangalore airport under the leadership of Mr. Mumtaz Ali - patron of BCF and other distinguished personalities of Mangalore including Mr. Moidin Bava - former MLA, Mr U. T. Ifthikhar, Mr. S. M. R Rashid - President of BCCI central committee and many others. The passengers were transferred to the hotels where they had registered for the mandatory quarantine.

The second flight under this joint initiative is scheduled to take-off from Ras Al Khaimah airport to Mangalore on 24th July 2020. A few more similar repatriation flights are to soon follow, in the coming weeks.

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