Mangalore, Jan 27: There was something for everyone at the Panambur Beach Utsav jointly organised by the district administration and Panambur Beach Development Authority as part of Karavali Utsav 2012 – 13.
Being a public holiday as well as a Saturday, the second day of the Beach Utsav saw a lot more hustle-bustle than the first day. Several people with families in tow visited the beach to enjoy the cool breeze and indulge in fun-filled activities that had been arranged by the locals.
Several stalls could be seen selling kites in various colours and hues for kite-flying enthusiasts. The skies were dotted with numerous kites staging ballet in the evening, while the extravagant kite displays by Team Mangalore were even better. A special camera brought by Prof Prithviraj from NITK was also mounted on a kite which took aerials shots of the audience and programmes, providing an 'eye in the sky'.
The main attraction of the second day of the Utsav was the 'Beach Baby' competition for kids aged between 2 – 5 years that was held on the main stage set up for the entire festival. As many as 15 kids in smart attires and hairstyles walked the ramp and shyly introduced themselves to the delighted gathering. A 12-year-old Suzzanna said it was admirable how such young kids spoke with confidence in front of the audience. The participating children were given marks based on their attire, hairstyles and way of introduction.
As part of the food festival, a variety of snacks and main course dishes were available at stalls set up on the beach. A trip to the Food Utsav was incomplete without freshly prepared sea-food for foodies in the beach stalls. One stall Rico's advertised fresh tiger prawns, crab masala, seer fish fry and beach special fish fry with dosas. An assortment of fast-food such as Chinese Hakka and Schezwan noodles, Manchurian, Pav bhaji and Tawa Pulav was available apart from chats, churmuri and ice-creams to tease the taste-buds of the large number of visitors, who seemed to be enjoying every bit of it.
A stall-owner Alan said that the number of visitors on the beach was overwhelming, and it became quite a task to manage and serve the customers at the stalls. Also spotted among the throng of families was Commissioner of Police Manish Kharbikar having come to spend an evening at the beach with his family.
Games such as Wheel of fortune and darts for teenagers and a mini-Ferris wheel for children ensured that people of all ages enjoyed themselves at the festival. For those with an adventurous streak, there were water sports such as water jet-ski ride and boat ride, as well as a dune buggy ride on the sandy shores of the beach.
A solo-singing competition on the theme of patriotism was held in which 12 singing finalists competed with each other, which was followed by a musical performance by Nitin Acharya and Rajgopal after dusk.
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