Women wins drum beat competition

SHILLONG, SEPT 28: “Kyrmen” – a group comprising of mostly Khasi women – today won the Prasad Gupta Memorial  Drum Beat Competition (Indigenous) organized by the Central Puja Committee (CPC) at a puja pandal installed at Motinagar in the city here on Thursday.

Dressed in traditional attires, the women folks hailing from Nongpiur village whose group had a single male member were seen mesmerizing the crowd with their performance during the competition.

The trophy to the winner team was handed over by former Assembly Speaker Charles Pyngrope besides cash prize and medal.

The second and third prizes were bagged by the Dathymmei – a group from Nongthymmai, and Smit from Smit village respectively, who were also awarded with medals and cash prizes.

It may be mentioned here, the drum beat competition was organized annually for the past six years on the occasion of Durga Puja celebrations as a mark of paying rich tribute to Late Prasad Gupta, a senior journalist of Meghalaya.

Speaking to reporters, CPC president Naba Bhattacharjee said the competition was conceptualized along with few friends from the journalist fraternity in memory of (L) Gupta, who was not only a mentor for young and budding journalists.

He said that the competition has been growing from strength to strength in which traditional groups from different parts of the state have come forward to participate. “In the coming year, we expect that groups from other states of the North East region will also participate in this competition,” Bhattacharjee said.

On the other hand, Shillong Press Club (SPC) president David Laitphlang said that the classic example of the uniqueness of the state in which people cutting across caste, greed and religion are celebrating the occasion with equal fervor and the drum beat is a symbol of that.

By Our Reporter