TURA: The 39th Hundred Drums Wangala Festival started on a colourful note with the grand entrance of the participating Wangala troupes to the centre of the field.
The main events of the opening day were a traditional cooking competition, a’jea susaani, doroa, dotdrong doksusaani, sarenda salsusaani etc.
Traditional games like wapong sika, roong gosusaani, jakpong pea etc also took place with a large number of participants much to the uproar and amusement of the spectators whose cheering filled the air as the seasoned competitors took on each other for the top rank.
The grand event will start off on the 11th where the chief guest will be his excellency, the governor of Meghalaya V. Shanmuganathan, who will inaugurate the days program formally.
The annual industrial exhibition at the district level (WGH) was also formally started as part of the programme with the cutting of the ribbon by the chief guest M. B Roy, director of commerce and industries.
In her speech, she stressed on improving the current industries functioning in the state in order to compete with industries functioning outside the state. The director lauded the efforts of both officers and entrepreneurs in bringing different forms of art and industries into the state and stressed on all-round improvements. The director also mentioned the department plans on making use of the abundunt natural resources namely on commercialisation of bamboo products and promoting it both outside the state and the country.
The guest of honour was L. Ch. Momin, working chairman, Wangala Committee, who also spoke of the importance of industrial units for all round development of society as a whole. Others who spoke on the occasion were M. Suting, JDCI, Garo Hills region who also stressed on improving the industrial segment.
