Celebrating Indian culture and heritage, the India by the Bosporus festival has kicked off in the capital Ankara.

The event is being jointly organized by the Indian Embassy in Ankara, India's leading entertainment company, Teamwork Arts, Turkey's Foreign Ministry and the Culture and Tourism Ministry. The festival will travel from Ankara to Konya and İzmir before finally coming to Istanbul. It will create a space for rich dialogue and versatile cultural interactions while demonstrating the harmony between the two countries through events featuring shows, visual arts, food and popular culture.

Held for the first time, India by the Bosporus aims to encourage cooperation between the two countries while showcasing India's colorful artistic and cultural identity for the audience.

The festival began with a concert of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra accompanied by world-famous violinist Pandit Dr. Lakshminarayana Subramaniam and famous singer Kavita Krishnamurti in the capital Ankara. The festival will continue with events in Istanbul, Ankara, Konya and İzmir after April 15.

Tarun Tahiliani, one of India's most famous designers, will be showcasing his collection "The Past and the Renaissance of Indian Fashion" on April 15 at the Esma Sultan mansion. The fashion show will reveal the change of Indian fashion over the years.

As part of the festival, Nrityagram-Smarana will offer a perfect show with traditional Odissi dance, which has a 2,000-year-old history, between April 24 and April 28. Harpreet, a contemporary folk poet, will combine the poems of famous poets like Rumi with Indian folk music between April 17 and April 22. On April 20, Harpreet will perform with a special curation at the Mevlana Culture Center in Konya. He will present poems from Rumi and with Gilles Chuyen's special Sufi dance.

Gandhi's birthday celebrated

Puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee's Ishara Puppet Theater will come to Turkey within the context of Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birthday celebrations. The theater will tell Gandhi's non-violent resistance (Satyagraha) to the audience with a non-verbal performance on April 18 and April 21. The National Library in Ankara will also host renowned press photographer Kulwant Roy's collection comprising of Gandhi's rare archive photographs. The "Gandhi @ 150" exhibition can be visited between April 24 and April 28.

"Mahatma Gandhi-20th Century Prophet," the first documentary shot while Gandhi was still alive by A.K. Chettiar featuring many details about his life, can be watched at the National Library throughout the exhibition.

Indian flavors in Ankara

Between April 17 and April 22, a food festival hosted by famous Indian chef Picu awaits the residents of Ankara. Chef Picu will take his guests an exquisite gastronomic trip with his country's rich culinary repertoire at the Ankara Hilton.

Gilles Chuyen, the famous choreographer of Bollywood films, will offer Bollywood dance classes at workshops in Istanbul and Ankara. One of the supporters of the festival, the Indian Ministry of Complementary and Alternative Therapies, supported by the Government of India, will also hold workshops on yoga art and techniques along with ancient science of Ayurveda during the festival.