Canberra Punjabi Sports and Cultural Association (CPSCA) organised its signature event ‘Royal Punjabi Dinner (RPD)’ on 5th July 2019 at Thoroughbred Park Lyneham. CPSCA has been organising alcohol-free family RPD every year for the last 4 years. This year in addition to cultural program presented by local Canberran stars, Mr Harbhajan Mann, a renowned international Punjabi singer and actor also performed.
The event was attended by over 700 guests from the ACT hinterland along with guests from India, Melbourne, Yanko, Sydney and Brisbane. The dignitaries who attended the program were Ms Suzzane Orr MLA representing the ACT Chief Minister, Mr Alistair Coe Leader of Opposition, Mrs Giulia Jones MLA, Mr PS Karthigeyan Deputy high Commissioner of India, Dr Deep Saini Vice Chancellor Canberra University, Mrs and Dr Krishna Nadimpali OAM President FINACT, Mrs and Mr Kanti Jinna OAM and Mr Gurpreet Singh Niamian Journalist from Punjab
This year again the cultural program was coordinated by Dr Sunita S Dhindsa. The stage was anchored by Canberra’s own stars Mrs Manmeet Kaur, Mr Taj Sidhu and Dr Dhindsa. The cultural program started with Punjab’s cultural folk dance ‘Sammi’ performed by Manmeet, Mehar, Mandeep and Parminderjit, mixed with giddha and bhangra from ‘Folk Original’. This was followed by a beautiful dance by mother (Jas) and daughter (Aaliya) duo. Ravneet and Teja Dhillon’s electric couple dance made it hard for guests to sit on chairs. Preety Basanti sang Punjabi folk song ‘chann Kithan guzari ie raat ve’ beautifully.
A bhangra performance by young girls (Gursimran, Mandeep, Arashdeep and Parminder) energised the guests. This was followed by Australian born stars of ‘Folk Original’ Jassie, Priya, Vikhamjit, Angadbir, Mehar, Mahi, Mandeep, Seerat, Himani, Alisha, Jagmeet, Pari and Kenaisha who performed a mixed bhangra choreographed and directed by Parminderjit Kaim. The youngest star of the team Angadbir performed with his custom-made props. Mr Taj Sidhu, very well-known artist of Canberra sang a beautiful sufi song. The local cultural program was concluded with performance by CPSCA’s own star giddha team. The mixture of young and mature stars of the team Amandeep, Arshdeep, Gursimran, Hardarshan, Mahi, Mandeep, Mehar, Parminder, Preety, Rajwinder, Ravneet, Ricknam, Rushan, and Sharanjeet.
After the cultural program famous singer Harbhajan Mann took over the stage. He wooed guests from the Australian Capital with marathon enthralling performance of almost three hours. The atmosphere was such that the guests kept dancing and Harbhajan Mann kept singing on their requests with the last song performed at midnight.
A delicious three course hot Punjabi dinner was cooked and served by Canberra’s own ‘Monu’s Kitchen’. The hall, table and chairs were provided by The Thoroughbred Park, stage light and sound were supplied by Star Party Hire Mt Druit NSW and decorations were tastefully done by ‘Govinda Event and Decoration Hire’. Security for the event was sponsored and provided by High Beam Security. They have done a commendable job professionally.
The event was sponsored by IT Alliance (Mr Rattesh Gumber), ACT Government, Harcourts Belconnen (Mr Ajay Kumar), Canberra Business and Technology College (Mr Rakesh Bhutani), Conder Dental Centre & CBR Dentals Woden (Dr Ravneet Khillan), Indian Mega Marts Queanbeyan (Mr Kapeesh Sareen) and Solar4light (Mr Sukhjeet Singh).
Kudos to the CPSCA team Mr Amardeep Singh, Mr Amarjeet Judge, Dr Harjinder Dhindsa, Mr Iqbal Deol, Mr Jatinder Majithia, Mr Naninder Khatra, Mr Paramdeep Nrain, Mr Sumandeep Dhillon, Dr Sunita S Dhindsa and Dr Surjit Kang, who worked tirelessly to make this event a success.