Hyderabad, October 15th, 2018: Telangana Tourism under the creative leadership of its Principal Secretary Burra Venkatesham, IAS is planning a spectacular Bathkamma Festival with a variety of programs for the public.
One amongst them is Bathkamma on the Water where young sailors from the Yacht Club of Hyderabad will perform the traditional dance of Bathkamma on the Water near the Buddha Statue on 16 and 17 October at 4:30 PM.
Also part of the celebrations will be a unique Coracle Racing event. Coracles are the circular boats you see at tourist sports with fisherfolk all across the world and have apparently originated in Scotland and spread across the world.
The sailors will be dancing in multi coloured flower decorated Coracles and amongst beautifully ornate Bathkammas on Hussain Sagar Lake.
The target is to create 100 Bathumakkas on the Water and enter the Record books over a few years with larger and larger collections on a single water body. The floating Bathmakkas will be lit up from the inside during the night and will add a sheet of multi coloured beauty to the Hyderabad night sky nearby the Buddha.
During the day the 100 floating Bathkammas will be decked with flowers and the girls and boys of the Yacht Club will do the traditional dance to traditional songs on the Coracles dressed in true Bathkamma style.
Fishermen proficient in paddling the Coracle have been invited to race the Coracles between the Bathkammas for a Grand Prize yet to be announced.
“When it comes to festivals, be it the Sweet Festival or Bathkamma we can make them better and better and ensure that all the citizens and tourists enjoy to the maximum and this year’s Bathkamma on the Water and Air and Land will be the beginning of a whole new dimension to the festival of flowers in Telangana “ said Mr.Venkatesham the originator of the idea of Bathmkamma on the Water
“We are very happy to work closely with Telangana Tourism to take Coracle Racing to the level of the Kerala Boat race over the next few years. It is a traditional craft and very difficult to propel given that it is a perfect circle and requires artful paddling known to only a few in the fishing community” We hope to make it a state and national event in the near future. “ said Suheim Sheikh who conceived and ran India’s first Coracle Race at Hussain Sagar in 2016
