Pomp, gaiety mark ‘Naada Habba’ celebrations by Kannadigas in city

Hyderabad: The Kannaddiga community's Naada Habba (a ten-day festival celebrated during Dasara) has begun in the city. Community members are celebrating it with pomp and gaiety in the same spirit as it is celebrated in Mysore.

In the city, Karnataka Sahitya Mandira has been celebrating this ten-day festival for the past 88 years, and this year is the 89th year of celebration. The celebration highlights the rich tradition and also the literature of the Kannaddigas. These ten days, along with various cultural activities, especially for children, several competitions that include poem recitation, easy writing, elocution, painting competition, and many more, are organised.

Narasimha Murthy, joint secretary of Karnataka Sahitya Mandira, said, “The main aim of this ten-day celebration is to showcase the rich literature of the community and also remember the prominent authors and poets of the community. During these ten days, various literary seminars and symposia, cultural programmes like classical, light music, dramas, and dances of various cultures are performed. Also to encourage and make the children aware of the rich tradition, various stage plays are performed. Artists of national and international repute are invited to perform and to be part of these programmes.”

"Over these ten days, we offer prayers to Naada Devi and have invited various artists from Karnataka to perform in cultural programs. Since we are away from our hometown, we aim to recreate the same atmosphere and enthusiasm of the festival. While we can't hold large processions with elephants due to space limitations, we are organising a variety of other cultural events," he added.

"For the past ten years, we've never missed a single program during the Nadahabba Celebrations at Karnataka Sahitya Mandira. The classical music performances they organise are truly mesmerising and melodious," said Ramesh Shetty, an IT employee.