The views of the parade, procession and other activities organised by the expatriate communities to mark the National Day at Asian Town yesterday. Pics: Qassim Rahmatullah / The Peninsula
Doha: For the first time, 12 teams of expatriate communities from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka participated in a colourful parade and procession to mark Qatar National Day (QND) in Asian Town, Industrial Area, yesterday under associated activities of QND.
The event organised by the Ministry of Interior in collaboration with organisations of the expatriate community and Ibn Ajayan Projects (IAP) — managers of Asian Town — attracted thousands of workers.
A total of 12 teams from four expatriate communities showed their love for Qatar through traditional parade and procession which began at 2:50pm.
Abu Bakar a representative from Ministry of Interior for supervising the event told The Peninsula that the traditional parade includes Sandwhip, Brahman Baria, Cultural forum Qatar, Comilla, Incas, Qatar Indian social forum, Dhaka, Chattagram, Sylihet, Thirussure Jilla and Khulna.
An emotional procession was about Kerala flood showing situation of flood affected people and support from Qatari government and charity organisations.
An artwork of a Bangladeshi national, MD Arsh Ali pulled the attention of the audience at the parade. Ali, a mechanic working in Qatar for two years added extra features battery powered in his cycle using his mechanical skills and decorated it with Qatari flag and burgundy and white balloons.
“I spent over QR1,000 and 10 day on making my cycle attractive for Qatar National Day,” Ali told The Peninsula. He said that many people came to him after parade to take selfi with his decorated cycle and shot a video.
Workers enjoyed very much to the cultural programmes including singing, dancing and stage show by their expatriate community members in their languages.
To create awareness among workers, the plays were based on themes of dangers of drug smuggling, traffic rules and promoting charity work.
A play staged at Asian Town yesterday was about Kerala flood to educate people how to respond to such natural disaster and what type of roles they could play.
The organising committee held a quiz competition for workers in which they were asked about Qatar like when Qatar got freedom and who was the first prime minister of Qatar among many more.
The winners received attractive prizes like jackets and T-shirts.
A cricket match was also played by Asian Star Team and Qatar Team at the Cricket Stadium of Asian Town. Asian Star team was comprising of players from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The stadium was almost full with spectators.
