MEGA CELEBRATIONS
Artists perform during the opening day of the three-day long World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna River in New Delhi, Mar. 11. (Atul Yadav | PTI)
People who were present at this event were both amazed and enthralled by the grandeur and scale of this celebration of culture, writes Sanjeev Tulsian. (Society, #ArtofLiving, #SanjeevTulsian, @SanjeevTulsian, @Siliconeer, #Siliconeer, #SriSri, #WCF2016, #ISupportWCF, #WCFfever, #ProudIndian)
India, the name of our country has evolved from ‘Indus’ the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Our rich heritage has been nurtured and developed on the banks of sacred rivers like the Sutlej, Ganges, Yamuna, Godavari and many more.
I have seen the sparkling white Yamuna emerging from Yamunotri and coming down to the sangam and ahead where is becomes brown and contaminated.
This is not because of the humanity evolving and celebrating life on these banks, but the erratic industrial waste being dumped into our ‘sacred’ rivers. Environmentalists, take note.
The venue hosting the WCF was a foul smelling dirt land where no animal dared to venture.
Kudos to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and his untiring force of Art of Living volunteers who have cleaned the place so well that an international mega event to nurture the world culture and brotherhood celebrations – WCF is all set to be staged here.
We invite all our worthy critics to come and witness the World Cultural Festival.
The World Culture Festival – March 11, 2016.
We could manage sofas just in front of the stage – a mammoth beautiful structure set up in 7 acres, studded with the grand band 8,500 strong.
The waiting had not ended, it started raining, later pouring, even a hailstorm. Unbaffled and drenched, the huge congregation, all house full were enjoying what they termed as blessings of Lord Indra.
The crowd cheered the beautiful rainbows painted by divinity across the vast span of the sky with sunshine. Few minutes later Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the stage which was already seated with dignitaries from across the globe.
It was a beautiful sight to see flags of 156+ nations flowing on the stage, the tri-color and AOL flags with all their grandeur on top of the dome at the center of the stage.
The symphony of the grand band was soul stirring and so were the various dance performances, Kathak and Bharatnatyam each by 1,700 performers, Garba with 1,500 performers – just to name a few. The various international performances too were spellbinding and cheered by all.
The short sentence by Sri Sri Ravishankar, electrifying speech by PM Modi and sentences from international dignitaries were a feast to the ears. Gurudev acknowledged participation from all countries including our neighbors Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and remarked that music and culture unites nations and shows that we may coexist despite any differences.
The day concluded at almost 10:45 in the night with a Bollywood tribute to the 35 years of Art of Living.
