Mysuru: Twelve-year-old Rubina Nadaf, a singing sensation who took Zee Kannada TV reality show SaReGaMaPa Little Champs Season 16 by storm, will inaugurate this year’s Makkala Dasara. The event will be held on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at Jaganmohan Palace auditorium.

Rubina Nadaf is a Class 6 student at the Government Higher Primary School of Mevundi village in Haveri taluk. Rubina received a communication from the Makkala Dasara Committee Secretary and Mysuru DDPI through Haveri Education Officer to be a chief guest at the event that has been specially designed for children.

Mysuru DDPI Panduranga told Star of Mysore this morning that along with singer Rubina, two other singers, visually-impaired Sangeetha from Raichur district who is training in classical music at Davanagere Government Blind School and Nayana Nagaraj from Mysuru, both of SaReGaMaPa fame have also been invited to inaugurate Makkala Dasara. Formal invitations will go to the child-guests by tomorrow, he added.

Rubina, a household name in Karnataka through her singing talent, lives along with her family in a rented house at Mevundi village in Haveri. The house is in a dilapidated state and her mother does tailoring for a living.

Despite backward economic condition, the children of the household are sent to Government School from where Rubina has emerged as a singing sensation without any rudimentary training in Karnatak or Hindustani Classical Music.

Speaking to reporters, Rubina said she was excited to inaugurate Makkala Dasara. “I dedicate this honour to my teachers and parents and this is a great opportunity,” she said. I have never witnessed the grandeur of Mysuru Dasara in person and I have only watched it on TV. Looking forward to coming to Mysuru, she said.

“My parents and teachers have encouraged me a lot in my singing journey,” she said. Rubina is the icon of Government Primary School and has won hearts through her singing.