MAY BALL 2009 IN QATAR: 2009

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Aishwarya crowned May Queen by Slumdog Millionaire Choreogapher
Longinus Fernandes in Qatar.

Main Photo: Left to right.
Archie D’Mello of Qatar Airways, Martin Mascarenhas – GWA Vice President Sports, Simon D’Silva – President GWA, Longinus Fernandes - Choreographer, Suresh Sharma – Dy. GM Centrepoint, second runner-up Reema Venkat, Jimmy Moses – bollywood comedian, May Queen Aishwarya Muraleedharan, Carmo Santos – Chairman Goan Cultural Centre Kuwait (behind), first runner-up Dolly Kanjani, Francisco Correia – President Young Goans Club Bahrain, Alexander Fernandes – President Colva United Centre Kuwait, Hazel Rodrigues – General Secretary GWA and Lubino Soares – GWA Vice President PR.

Aishwarya Muraleedharan, a first year B-Tech student from IES College of Engineering in Thrissur, Kerala was crowned the ninth May Ball Queen by Choreographer of Oscar award winning film Slumdog Millionaire Longinus Fernandes.

On May 7, Thursday night in Doha, Qatar it was the turn of Longinus to set the dance floor on fire and lifts the spirits of his eager fans at the ninth annual May Ball of Goan Welfare Association Qatar, all of whom were eager to shake a hip, hug him, shake hands and some who took an opportunity to take a autograph for him.

[Longi & Glen Barretto]

And some 150 to 200 fans who were turned away missed out their chance to dance with Longinus to the tunes of the popular songs‘Jai Ho’ and ‘Papu cant Dance Sala’ which were choreographed by him, before shooting into the lime light with Slumdog Millionaire.

The forty year-old turned heads on at the May Ball and for the organizers the dance was a roaring success, for whom bigger and better has been the motto for the last eight years.

Comedian Jimmy Moses kept the crowd in good spirits with his rib tickling comedy.

The winner of the May ball dance walked away with a ticket to Doha-Amsterdam-Doha sponsored by KLM, a gold pendant by Akshaya Jewellers and loads of other prizes including a weekend stay and a lunch for two at the Four Seasons Hotel, shopping vouchers from Al Muftah and a Westar wrist watch sponsored by Domasco.

[A gimpse of the crowd during a dance session]

And to top it all, Young Goans Club Bahrain has sponsored an airline ticket, visa and hotel accommodation to the winner of May Queen Qatar to participate in Bahrain’s May Queen Ball to be held on 28th May in Manama, Bahrain.

For Aishwarya this pageant is a stepping stone that can take her on to future participation in bigger events. Her hobbies are dancing, singing, acting and desire to become an actress. She has flown in to Doha from Kerala to bag the top honours at the May Queen which is one of the main socializing event of the year for Indians from the tiny coastal state of Goa.

Aishwarya piped Dolly Harish Kanjani as First runner-up and Reema Venkat as second runner-up. During the 7th May Queen Dolly Kanjani was adjudged as first runner-up and this is the second time she was crowned again as first runner-up by Bollywood comedian Jimmy Moses. She walked away with a ticket to Doha-Dubai-Doha sponsored by Jet Travels, a voucher for Lunch and a Weekend stay by Ritz Carlton Doha, shopping vouchers from Al Muftah and a Westar wrist watch sponsored by Domasco. Reema Venkat, the second runner-up who wish to join modeling was crowned by Suresh Sharma, Deputy General Manager- Finance, Centrepoint.

Venkat too walked away with a ticket to Doha-Bahrain-Doha by Jet Travels, a weekend stay and a lunch for two at the Ritz Carlton Doha, shopping vouchers from Al-Muftah and a Westar wrist watch from Domasco.

12 young charming beauties of different countries like Egypt, Bangladesh, India and some flown in from GCC countries participated in the contest. This shows that the show is not only popular among Goans or Indians but people coming from different parts of the world.

All the participants were presented with a rose sponsored by Gardenia and asked to introduce themselves followed by their question which determined their intellect. They were all given shopping vouchers at Splash presented by Suresh Sharma, Deputy General Manager Finance of Centrepoint.

The panel of three judges for May Queen contest was co-ordinated by Archie D’Mello of Qatar Airways. The panel was headed by Longinus Fernandes, Choreographer for Slumdog Millionaire from Mumbai, Sandra Wilkens, an American Fashion Designer working at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) at Qatar foundation and Francisco Correia, President of Young Goans Club Bahrain.

In the beginning, the event was kicked off by Simon D’Silva, president of Goan Welfare Association with the opening words in mother tongue Konkani followed by ace compere Updesh Swar, the mood-setter of the evening. Updesh Swar introduced the one and only top Goan band in attendance “Forefront” by bringing up on the stage every member of the group individually along with their respective musical instruments playing in a very exclusive style by singing Proud Mary by Tina Turner followed by the classical ballroom set with the opening number “Claudia”, a very famous Konkani song composed by late Chris Perry dedicated to all the Goan tiatrists, musicians, poets, writers and directors.

The crowd started pouring in continuously on to the dance floor. The music from the Forefront kept the young and old on the dancing floor enjoying till the wee hours of the morning cheering the band and complimenting as one of the best shows in the Middle East. The vivid scenes of Goa projected on a giant screen depicted the touristic essence of Goa for the large number of attendees of different nationalities.

High-energy pulsating dance beats, loads of prizes, performances by Longinus Fernandes, Choreographer of Slumdog Millionaire, rib tickling comedy by Jimmy Moses, spectacular beauty pageant and Qatar audience were all the part and parcel of the colossal ninth edition of May Queen Ball along with the senior Goan leaders from GCC countries, Francis Correia – President of Young Goans Club Bahrain, Carmo Santos - Chairman of Goan Cultural Centre Kuwait, Alexander Fernandes, President of Colva United Centre Kuwait and other Goan dignitaries from Kuwait, Dubai and Bahrain with their families graced the occasion.

Youngsters were cheering for GWA’s Vice President Martin Mascarenhas when joined Forefront and played Djembe to rock the party. Colourful balloons from a huge net above the dancing floor were released by the President when the crowd was at its peak on the dance floor rocking away to scintillating music by Goa’s top band, Forefront.

The Lucky entrant winners were picked and the first prize video Camera won by Jovis Mathew sponsored by Modern Home, second prize washing machine won by Lance Pinto sponsored by Video Home and the third prize HP printer courtesy Ramdas Revadkar from Kuwait was taken by Anthony Mascarenhas. The lucky coupons for seven nights stay for a family of four in Goa was sponsored by Royal Goan Beach Club and the winners were Gracy Fernandes, Velanie Fernandes and Cyandra D’Cunha

While Castro Josie and Kimmi Agarwal walked away with 1200 sq.feet property in India sponsored by EXPAT Properties Limited.

In recognition of the Outstanding Young Talents in sports, four Goan students were felicitated and presented with momentoes at the hands of Mr. Harish Arora, First Secretary at the Indian Embassy. They were Miss. Emelina Soares for Volleyball & Badminton, Miss. Akshata Arjun Sanguelkar for Cricket & Swimming, Master. Goran Camilo Monteiro for Table tennis and Master. Conrad Rohan Mascarenhas for Tennis

On behalf of Goan Welfare Association, both Longinus Fernandes and Jimmy Moses were presented with mementoes as a token of appreciation by Simon D’Silva, president of the Goan Welfare Association.

Longi and Jimmy were very happy to be a part of the event and appreciated the Goan Welfare Association’s effort to put up such a magnificent show which made them feel like there is no difference between being in Doha or Goa. They also congratulated the beautiful people of Doha as they were rocking the party.

The President praised his dynamic managing committee for the endless efforts, support and cooperation without whom the show would have been impossible and thanked all the sponsors and well wishers for their continuous support.

It was a Goan Welfare Association and Splash presentation, where Splash was the Title Sponsor and Qatari Industrial Equipment was the Co-Sponsor.

Official Airline was Qatar Airways, Official Hotel was Ramada Plaza, Official media partner Gulf Times and Official Video/Photography was Gardenia.

Photos and DVD’s of the event are available at Gardenia on (+974)4440789 or contact Mr. Saher Karaan on (+974)5651578.