BATA Ugadi Celebrations -- “Grand Success” with Over
whelming response.
Bay Area Telugu Association
organized the 9th Annual Ugadi Telugu Mela and Youth Talent Show on March 20th,
2010 at
9:00 am
though 10:00 pm in the evening. Attendee’s enjoyed the traditionally prepared Ugadi pachadi. Sri Jaya Ram Komati
(TANA President) & Raj Bhanot ji
(Chairman of Sunnyvale Temple Board) were the chief
guest’s for the program. Telugu
Association of North America (TANA) co-sponsored the event. In the evening
“prime time” program more than 1500 people attended, making it one of the
highest attended programs at
This program was sponsored by the following patrons:
Grand Sponsor:
Platinum Sponsors:
Channel Real Estate and
Gold Sponsor: PNG Jewelers, CitiBank, BayArea Hot Breads, Swagat Indian Cuisine, Immigration law partners, Peacock Indian Cuisine & Andhra Bhavan.
The program started at 9:00 am with “Youth Talent Show”. The Youth Talent show has been providing a platform for youth to showcase their talents in music, dance and other fields. The ever increasing participation of children from a tender age of 4 to 15 in large numbers shows the hard work put in the by the kids in learning telugu language, arts, culture and festivals. This year’s talent show had over 100 entries and over 400 children participating in sub-junior, junior and senior categories. Additionally, there were over 90 entries for Art, Caroms and Chess competitions.
The hall was well decorated and adorned with
traditional Telugu toranalu, mango leaves leaving the audience with a distinct
impression of celebrating Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh. The stage was resplendent with children
wearing traditional dresses and costumes “Sarees", “Onis” & “Panchelu”
from Andhra Pradesh and performing to classical, popular folk and film songs
leaving the audience wondering if they were in Andhra Pradesh. It was indeed memorable to see tiny tots
singing classical and popular movie songs with confidence in front of a large
gathering, playing musical instruments and dancing to classical, folk and movie
songs dressed up in colorful, traditional costumes and jewelry. The parents and dance teachers of the groups
did a tremendous job of preparing the children and getting them ready for the
competition. The Youth Talent show was
very efficiently conducted by Srilu Veligeti, Vijaya Aasuri, Rajesh Chavali
& Aparna. Srini Mangipudi coordinated the
chess and caroms competitions at the event in addition to coordinating the
check-in and welcome team at the front desk. Guinness World Records holder, Mr.
Arvind Kotha, oversaw the drawing competitions. Traditional Ugadi pachadi was served at the event. The auditorium was totally
packed with an attendance of over 2000 people.
BATA advisory board member and Cultural Chair Ms Vijaya Aasuri started the evening program and stated that the main goal of Ugadi program is to showcase and celebrate Telugu culture while entertaining the audience. The evening program started auspiciously with Panchaga Sravanam by Priest Sri Balakrishna. Prasad Mangina (BATA President) along with BATA committee members felicitated BalaKrishna garu.
The first performance was Kuchipudi dance choreographed by Madhuri Kishore. This year’s program was a tribute to all the sensational Actors, Directors & Music Directors who made their mark on the tollywood silver screen over the last decade. There were dances by 4-10 years old kids, and some of these kids were first-timers on the stage, who were very well trained by the choreographers Vijaya Aasuri, Srilu Veligeti, Sridevi Pasupuleti & Kiran Vinnakota. There were also dances from the dance schools of Ranjani Manda & Uma Dhanapal. Audience thoroughly enjoyed dances to super hits songs like “Daye daye Damma” (Indra), “Dole Dole” (Pokiri) , “Jalsa”, “Kantri’, “Rabbaru Gaajulu”, “Chacobar” (Chirutha), “Yela Yelaga” (Parugu), “Chandamama” (Athadu), “Ammaye Sannaga” (Kushi), “Neelapuri”, “Dheera Dheera” (Magadheera), “Chuputo Gucchi” (Idiot), “Raanu Raanu Antune” (Jayam), “Bommali” (Billa) , “Madhura Madhura Meenakshi” (Arjun), are just to name few songs.
“Bangaru Kodi Petta” (MagaDheera) was an Instant Hit with the audience.
Next item was a comedy skit
“Pelli Kaani Prasad” directed by Kalyan Kattamuri and
performed by Aditya,
Overall, More than 50 teens and youth artists have participated in various dances as listed above in addition to over 200 children’s participation were the major highlight of this years Ugadi event. The dances have enthralled the audinace through out the event keeping them interesting and exciting till the end of the event around 10:00 PM.
One of the main attractions of the program was
“Americalo Telugodu” audio release by Kalyan Kattamuri. Kalyan
sang couple of very popular numbers from the CD like “Naa chelo Manga ve”
(Inspired by the movie song from Roja) & “Ringa Ringa” (Inspired by the
movie song from Arya2
). He then thanked Sai Kiran & Ujwal for being part of the project and
specifically thanked Vijaya
Aasuri, Veeru Vuppala, Ravi Varma, Venu Aasuri, Srikar,
Speaking on this occasion out-going BATA President Prasad Mangina, mentioned that he has received tremendous support from BATA Committee, Volunteers, Sponsors & Well wishers throughout the last year. He also thanked all the parents, kids, youth & BATA team for making the Ugadi program a rousing success.
He fondly remembered all the successful programs BATA has conducted over the last year and said he is a big fan of light music programs & BATA Karaoke programs. Prasad thanked Jaya Ram garu for all the support he has extended during the year & also thanked Raj Bhanot ji for being a “good friend and well wisher” of BATA. Prasad invited all the program sponsors and presented them BATA’s appreciation plaque.
Prasad then introduced the newly elected Committee members of BATA for the year 2010-11 as follows: Srilu Veligeti (President) , Srinivas Kolli (Vice President), Srini Mangipudi (Secretary), Kamesh Malla (Jt. Secretary) Ramesh Konda (Treasurer), and Vijaya Aasuri, Sireesha Battula, Kalyan Kattamuri, Ujwal Kastala & Yeshwant Kudaravalli as Nominated Committee members.
Srilu Veligeti (newly elected President of BATA) thanked BATA committee & volunteers for their continued support and encouragement she received since she has been associated with BATA. Srilu was pleased with her election as well as with the new committee and expressed confidence that the new team will continue the activities with the same interest and intensity. Srilu thanked all the sponsors & additionally thanked the local businesses that have set-up by vendors such as tax services, real estate promoters, dentists, jewelers, boutiques, mehndi and non-profit organizations. Towards the end of the program, the much-awaited results from the Talent Show were announced by Srilu Veligeti, and cheers have erupted the hall every time a name and prize announced from each of the categories of competitions. Well know non profit organization “Spandana” also distributed prizes to the winners of “Padyaala Thoranam”, Bay Area contest winners.
BATA executive committee also thanked the media partners NamatheAndhra.com , Teluguam.com , Bharatfamily.com, Mahima Creations & Psymphony radio for all their support.
Pictures :
http://picasaweb.google.com/shreeimage.com/BATAUgadiEvent2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCL2Rp7u1-OvI-QE&feat=directlink#