First Indian cultural festival to be held in Nepal

Nepalis will get a taste of the huge cultural diversity of their neighbours at the first Indian cultural fest here from May 17.

The week-long gala, being organised by the embassy's Indian Cultural Centre in association with U-turn event management firm, will provide a platform to spread the rich Indian culture in Nepal by bringing together people, corporations and organisations, according to a statement issued by the Centre.

The highlights of the festival will be an ambassador's culinary challenge, an Indian carnival, an Indian food festival, performances of Indian folk dances, including the bhangra, an Indian film festival, and an exhibition of digital prints of Rabindranath Tagore's paintings.

A sarod recital by Debojyoti Bose and a Manipuri dance recital by a five-member troupe led by Baisali Basu Sarkar are also in the programme. A live performance by a Hindustani classical musician, Ustad Rashid Khan, is also on the cards.

"Nepal and India enjoy excellent bilateral relations, and treasure very close, comprehensive and multidimensional relations since centuries," the statement said.

"The relations are strengthened further by the age-old ties of history, culture, tradition and religion, and pronounced more in social, cultural, religious and economic dealings with each other."

The statement said that with this spectacular Indian Cultural Festival 2014, "we aim to further boost bilateral, cultural relations with Nepal".