Taj Mahotsava flagged off in Agra
VISHAL SHARMA
AGRA. The Surajkund crafts fair may have ended, but it does not mark the end of festivities in Northern India. The famous ten-day “Taj Mahotsava”, a crafts fair symbolizing the end of the tourist season, began today in Agra.
This annual Taj Fest, which shall continue till 27th February, was inaugurated at the Shilpgram in Agra on Friday by the UP Development Council Chairman Amar Singh and UP Tourism Minister Kawkab Hamid.
An interesting aspect of this year’s Mahotsava is that unlike previous years, while Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has refrained from any publicity at the crafts fair, mobile companies like Reliance, Tata Indicom and Airtel have installed large hoardings of “Mahotsav offers” to capture a bigger market share than BSNL.
Even the automobile manufacturer Bajaj took full advantage of the Taj Mahotsava to launch the environment friendly version of its auto-rickshaw brandnamed “Eco-Rick”, running on LPG.
Though this crafts fair is an annual event, this year, the situation is different. For the first time in the 12-year history of this fest, the inaugural ceremony witnessed the assembly of several Bollywood personalities including playback singers Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sadhna Sargam and Sukhvinder, who performed in a star-studded “Ismail Durbar Night” on Friday at the BSNL stadium.
The Agra Divisional Commissioner Dr. Ashok Kumar told the Business Standard that this Taj fest, which has been included in the annual tourism calendar of the Union government, presents an opportunity for handicrafts artisans to showcase their art directly to the foreign tourists, who arrive in multitudes to the “Shilpgram” during these ten days due to its close proximity with the world famous marble wonder Taj Mahal. He said that besides the artisans, the Taj Mahotsava is also an attractive display platform for corporates to introduce their products to the people.
He said that hundreds of craftsmen have been invited in this Taj fest by the state government to demonstrate their skills from all corners of the country, who shall be present their art in their respective state’s traditional dress. Apart from these about 50 stalls have been allotted to vendors who shall display automobiles and commercial goods.
But the Taj Fest is not constrained just into the confines of a crafts fair and based on a theme from the Mughal era, the Shilpgram has been stylized like a Mughal fortress. The UP tourism department has arranged for cultural events to be held every evening.
The grand inaugural of this ten-day crafts & cultural fair was marked by a star-studded “Ismail Durbar Night”, featuring a special song composed specially for the Taj Mahal with performances by over 20 dancers, 70 musicians and 9 top Bollywood playback singers. This mega-concert is being seen as the most expensive and grand concert to be held in Agra in the 350th anniversary celebrations of the Taj Mahal.
Besides the “Devdas” fame music composer Ismail Durbar, several other Bollywood and pop celebrities like Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sadhna Sargam and Sukhvinder shall perform in this concert. Several other attractions like live performance of Kathak Maestro Birju Maharaj, Musical evenings by Udit Narayan, Shankar Sahni & Ila Arun and a never before photographic exhibition of Taj Mahal’s different moods by famous photographer Raghu Ray in the Taj Mahal campus shall mark the Mahotsava nights.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
AGRA. The Surajkund crafts fair may have ended, but it does not mark the end of festivities in Northern India. The famous ten-day “Taj Mahotsava”, a crafts fair symbolizing the end of the tourist season, began today in Agra.
This annual Taj Fest, which shall continue till 27th February, was inaugurated at the Shilpgram in Agra on Friday by the UP Development Council Chairman Amar Singh and UP Tourism Minister Kawkab Hamid.
An interesting aspect of this year’s Mahotsava is that unlike previous years, while Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has refrained from any publicity at the crafts fair, mobile companies like Reliance, Tata Indicom and Airtel have installed large hoardings of “Mahotsav offers” to capture a bigger market share than BSNL.
Even the automobile manufacturer Bajaj took full advantage of the Taj Mahotsava to launch the environment friendly version of its auto-rickshaw brandnamed “Eco-Rick”, running on LPG.
Though this crafts fair is an annual event, this year, the situation is different. For the first time in the 12-year history of this fest, the inaugural ceremony witnessed the assembly of several Bollywood personalities including playback singers Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sadhna Sargam and Sukhvinder, who performed in a star-studded “Ismail Durbar Night” on Friday at the BSNL stadium.
The Agra Divisional Commissioner Dr. Ashok Kumar told the Business Standard that this Taj fest, which has been included in the annual tourism calendar of the Union government, presents an opportunity for handicrafts artisans to showcase their art directly to the foreign tourists, who arrive in multitudes to the “Shilpgram” during these ten days due to its close proximity with the world famous marble wonder Taj Mahal. He said that besides the artisans, the Taj Mahotsava is also an attractive display platform for corporates to introduce their products to the people.
He said that hundreds of craftsmen have been invited in this Taj fest by the state government to demonstrate their skills from all corners of the country, who shall be present their art in their respective state’s traditional dress. Apart from these about 50 stalls have been allotted to vendors who shall display automobiles and commercial goods.
But the Taj Fest is not constrained just into the confines of a crafts fair and based on a theme from the Mughal era, the Shilpgram has been stylized like a Mughal fortress. The UP tourism department has arranged for cultural events to be held every evening.
The grand inaugural of this ten-day crafts & cultural fair was marked by a star-studded “Ismail Durbar Night”, featuring a special song composed specially for the Taj Mahal with performances by over 20 dancers, 70 musicians and 9 top Bollywood playback singers. This mega-concert is being seen as the most expensive and grand concert to be held in Agra in the 350th anniversary celebrations of the Taj Mahal.
Besides the “Devdas” fame music composer Ismail Durbar, several other Bollywood and pop celebrities like Kavita Krishnamurthy, Sadhna Sargam and Sukhvinder shall perform in this concert. Several other attractions like live performance of Kathak Maestro Birju Maharaj, Musical evenings by Udit Narayan, Shankar Sahni & Ila Arun and a never before photographic exhibition of Taj Mahal’s different moods by famous photographer Raghu Ray in the Taj Mahal campus shall mark the Mahotsava nights.
(UNITED NEWS NETWORK)
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