Image not recoveredThe inaugural Roots Festival got under way at the Periya village in Wayanad district of Kerala. The festival that is a social initiative which aims at grass root development through sports and music will be held from April 18 to April 24, 2011.
The Festival is mainly planned as a grass root sport for development initiative, people-to-people connect and giving a direction to youth energy. With a seven-a-side football tournament that will see the participation of an Italian team, the festival aims to provide the sport-oriented youth exposure and opportunity to take their talent from the village field to the one place where football has reached a very evolved stage - Italy. Along with the football tournament that begins at 2:30 PM everyday, there will be local folk and martial artists, tribals and dancers will perform alongside modern bands and dj's from 7 PM in the evenings.
The initiative is the brain child of Shiva Keshavan, the four time Olympian and Asian Silver medallist in Luge for India and his wife and manager, Namita Agarwwal. Both have been spearheading grass root development initiatives around the country. They are being assisted by Bollywood editor and videographer Rahat Mahajan, script writer Areeb Sherwani and marketing expert Kuber Chopra. The event will also be partnered by the regional government of Tuscany (Italy), the Periya Panchayat and Co-op, one of Italy's largest co-operative and departmental store.
The event that is planned to be held annually from 2011 will be looking to play the winning Indian team of Mini World Cup, Firenze and also planning a twin programme between Kerala and Tuscany, which will have a systematic and sustainable exchange of sport know how and cultural integration.
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From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Wednesday 20 April 2011, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.