The brief rain spell in the national Capital on Friday couldn’t bring down the spirit of artistes who came from across the country to showcase their talent in front of the mega gathering at Sri Sri Ravi Shamkar’s Art of living three-day cultural event — World Culture Event — being held on Yamuna riverbed.
The excitement was palpable as the artistes systematically seated on the stairs of the stage cheered and hooted even as the intensity of rain increased. Artistes from various States across India came to perform interestingly around 1,050 farmers from Maharshtra came to perform the “Dhankari”.
It is believed that with Dhankari performance god becomes happy. Anand Kulhkar, a farmer said, “We look our devta in Sri Sri. We pray him and we framer community came here to please our guru with Dhnakari. We live in a village near Kohlapur and the drought-like conditions have made our conditions pathetic,” he said.
While talking with The Pioneer, the farmer further said in their village they perform Dhankarni in spiritual events/occasions. “Hope, our performance will make our guruji happy,” he further said.
As lakhs of people were expected to attend the event, people had initially started coming in the early part of the day to get a comfortable seating. “We thought it is a better idea to come in early. We came around 2pm. It is a huge event and a lot of people are attending it so it is always better to come early. We are specifically excited to how the stage would look in the night when the artistes will start performing as it is the world’s biggest stage. It will be a treat to watch,” said Mahima Sethi, a follower of Art of living.