By Jagpreet Sandhu, Chandigarh, November 25 : Following the theme of “Jaadunagiri-explore the magical world”, the “Chandigarh Carnival-2011” got off to a majestic start at the Leisure Valley , sector 10, Chandigarh. The mega festival was inaugurated by Sh.K.K.Sharma, adviser to the Administrator, Chandigarh Administration with lot of fanfare amidst cultural performances and release of colourful balloons. The Chief guest was accompanied by the Home Secretary UT Sh.Satya Gopal & Finance Sectary UT Sh.V.K.Singh.
The Chandigarh Carnival village was beautifully decorated with stalls placed up by various NGOs, academies, city colleges, and other various departments. Sh.K.K.Sharma flagged off Carnival Parade in the procession of decorated floats which saw young artists and students & children dressed in colourful ethnic costumes and dresses. The parade went around the city beautiful from Sector 17 Janmarg to Hotel Aroma through Sector 22 main market and back to Carnival village to Shopping plaza Sector 17.
The students of College of Art had conceptualized and executed about 20 colourful attractive and dominating floats on the theme, right from Alladin Ka Chirag to Harry Potter scenes from Arabian Nights which have been created on the rickshaws by the students of the college, faculty and staff. On the Inaugural day, Rock Band competition was also organised in which local bands namely AARZOO BAND, SOUL TRIP, Ageless Yard, BLACKHEART, DRONE CULTURE COLLECTIVE participated. The band “Blackheart” bagged the first prize and were felicitated with cash prize of Rs 11,000 whereas the second and the third position were bagged by Ageless yard and Aarzoo band and won cash prizes of Rs 7000 and Rs 5000.
Another interesting highlight of the Chandigarh Carnival is the film city set up by partner state J & K which is based on the Kashmir Bollywood theme, paying tribute to Bollywood legend Shammi Kapoor with the presence of his actor producer son Aditya Raj Kapoor .
In the evening a magic show for two hours by renowned magician Sartaj S.K .Sharma was performed who has entertained audience at many places across the country with more than 16000 shows and more than 100 shows in International countries.