Ganga mahotsav begins today

varanasi: the five-day cultural extravaganza, ganga mahotsav, will start at the ghats of the holy river here on monday. the festival will not only be graced by doyens of classical music but it will also open a window to the world of handicraft by holding a national craft fair. highlighting the main events of the ganga mahotsav at a press conference on sunday, divisional commissioner manoj kumar said that the festival which would be jointly organised by the department of culture and the up tourism would be inaugurated by up minister for tourism, housing and urban development lalji tandon.the ganga mahotsav will start with the performance of noted vocalist girija devi. the highlight of the evening will be the folk dance of gujarat, awishkar. after the recital of sitar and tabla by krishna chakraborty and kumarlal mishra respectively, nr rajendra will perform bharatnatyam. the second day's programmes include sitar recital by ustad shahid pervez from kolkata, lawani by maya jadhaw from mumbai, kathak performance by sunita sharma, dhrupad recital by ritik sanyal, richa johari and ramchandra rahi. rama shankar will present a shehnai recital. film actress hema malini will be the main attraction of the third day's programme on november 28. she will present a dance item based on durga. it will be followed by a violin recital by ramchandra bhagwat. while rewati sakalkar, devashish dey and srishti sumit will present vocal recitals jawahar lal will enthral audience with his shehnai. famous singer penaz masani will also present a show here on november 29. she will be followed by other artistes including minu pathak (sitar), urmila sharma (kathak) and local singers vijay kapoor, bachchu shukla and mahua banerjee. a deepdan will mark the concluding session of the ganga mahotsav on november 30. besides the cultural activities, a shilpa mela will also be held at beniyabag from november 27 to december 6. as many as 225 artisans from 25 states will participate in this fair. other activities like on the spot painting competition on the ganga by the sunbeam school at rajendra prasad ghat and dangal at singra stadium will also be held on november 27.