A proud moment for artist Akmal Pasha of Rajivnagar who gave his magical touch

New Delhi: Karnataka’s tableau has been adjudged as the second best among 12 States and Union Territories which participated in the Republic Day Parade on Jan 26. The tableau of Uttar Pradesh was selected as the best tableau.

While the tableau of Uttar Pradesh was based on the theme ‘One District One Product and Kashi Vishwanath Dham’, the Karnataka tableau was titled ‘Karnataka: The Cradle of Traditional Handicrafts’. The third position went to Meghalaya for its tableau on ‘Meghalaya’s 50 years of Statehood and its tribute to women-led cooperative societies & SHGs’.

This year for the first time, the general public were invited to vote for the best marching contingents and best tableaux in the popular choice category through the MyGov platform. The online poll was conducted between Jan. 25 and Jan. 31. Three panels of judges were appointed to assess the performance of the marching contingents.

It may be recalled here that Star of Mysore had published a report  on Jan. 30 under the title ‘Karnataka’s Republic Day tableau steals the show – Artist Akmal Pasha of Rajivnagar and his 45-member team provide a magical touch’ where Akmal Pasha, a resident of Rajivnagar in Mysuru was featured. Akmal was hoping the tableau would bag first prize.

Akmal, a retired employee of BEML, and his team gave shape to the Karnataka tableau that depicted State’s cultural icons.  A massive Asiatic elephant sculpted out of Mysuru rosewood with ivory inlay carvings, impressive Bidriware, bronze statues and lacquerware toys from Channapatna were the highlights of the tableau.

The tableau also featured Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, the acclaimed freedom fighter from Karnataka, who is also hailed as the ‘mother of traditional handicrafts in India’. She is seen offering ‘bagina’ that includes a sandal box, peacock shaped lamp pots, banana fibre bags from Sandur among others.