The Sri Lankan community in Qatar will celebrate the Sinhala and Tamil New Year (Bak Maha Ulela 2015) on Friday from 7am to 4pm at the Al Sadd Sports Club. The programme is organised by the Embassy of Sri Lanka in collaboration with Sri Lankan Coordinating Committee (SLCC) Qatar. Sri Lankan Ambassador Jayantha Palipane will be the chief guest.
Many traditional and sports events have been lined for the participation of community members. The day’s proceedings will begin with the opening ceremony followed by the lighting of the traditional oil lamp and the following events: Pillow fight, volleyball, 100 meters race (male and female), tug-a-war (male and female), breaking the pot (male and female), fancy dress (adults and children), scraping coconut (female), female with the longest head of hair, Raban, Jana Kavi, Elephant Eye, Singithi Avurudu Kumari (children), Bursting the balloon (children under 10 years) and mystery man. Famous artistes Susila Kottage (Dayawathi) and Nandana Hettiarachchi (Bonny) from the popular teledrama Ataka Nataka will be flown in by SriLankan Airlines for the event.
Hiru TV will cover the event which will be telecasted in Sri Lanka at a later date. Teledrama actress Anjula Rajapakse and Viraj will attend the celebrations as presenters from Hiru TV channel. The Doha based Sri Lankan band Ridma will perform at the celebrations.
The main sponsor of the program is Bank of Ceylon with co-sponsors Readymix Qatar, SriLankan Airlines, Domasco, Trico International, Al Bateel Securicor, New White Oceanic Restaurants and Lankadeepa. Traditional breakfast will be served. The Sri Lankan Community Benevolent Fund (SLCBF) will operate a food stall at the venue.
The Peninsula
