Bay Area Telugu Association

Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA) celebrated its annual Deepavali event in grand style on November 7^th at the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple. More than 1000 audience were thoroughly entertained with the ensemble of classical dance ballets, international dance feast, Telugu folk extravaganza, hilarious comedy skits, foot tapping dance numbers and musical medley.

The auditorium was beautifully decorated to give an ethnic look reflecting the auspicious event of Deepavali. The lobby welcomed everyone with a colorful display of a huge flower on the floor made from flower petals, colored dal & other regular household items. The decorations, painted diyas on the walls, the stage backdrop with pattu sarees coupled with the traditional outfits all the BATA volunteers and the participants wore reflected a festive atmosphere.

Ms.Vijaya Aasuri invited Hari K Prasad, who demonstrated that EVMs used in India could be tampered by altering small components of the machine, on to the stage. He talked what went into proving the EVM tampering and reality of the allegations on him.

The cultural program started with classical dance ballet beautifully performed by students of Himabindu Challa and Sunita Pendekanti. Then followed by Folk extravaganza, showcasing different folklore of Andhra Pradesh. Kids & Adults performed in this segment for Regu mullole. Yemi sakkagunnavro, Ye Raja, Raye saloni, Oolele and Noonugumeesalodu songs.

Ms.Vijaya Aasuri invited Jayaram Komati, TANA President and Satish Chilukuri, Convenor TANA Convention 2011 to the stage. Jayaram Komati expressed his excitement to see TANA 2011 coming to Santa Clara, CA. He sought support from the entire Telugu fraternity to make the convention a grand success. Satish Chilukuri mentioned that though it’s a proud & happy moment that the TANA convention is coming to Bay Area, it’s also a time for all the Telugus in the Bay Area to ensure that we do a great convention here. He requested everyone to spread the word about convention and also get involved in any way they can to make it a grand success.

This was followed by “Bay Are Khaleja” – a comedy skit directed by Kalyan Kattamuri. This skit was primarily performed by debutants selected from Virijallu Vijayadasami Awards from Virijallu radio show. The performance by all the artists left the audience in splits with its satirical take on the Khaleja movie in the Bay Area setting.

The Semi classical segment followed next featuring songs on Ganesha, Shiva and Durga Devi. The colorful costumes, devotional yet artistic moves mesmerized the audience. The devi stuti song with all the diyas in hands was a treat to watch. This is followed by unique item “Khabaddar”. This mini-skit directed by Kalyan Kattamuri reflected on the overdramatic TV Crime shows that became the norm of the day in all prominent channels back in India. Audience thoroughly enjoyed the travails of a Bay Area IT bachelor in the lines of a crime report.

A surprise to the evening was the release of Orange audio in the US. This Ramcharan Teja starrer movie directed by Bommarillu Bhaskar has music done by Harris Jayaraj. The audio release was attended by Jayaram Komati, Satheesh Chilukuri, Hari Gakkani, Sagar Doddapaneni, Choreographer Nixon master, Anchor Ishika, TV9 crew and BATA Committee. TANA President Jayaram Komati released the audio and gave the CDs to everyone on the stage. On popular demand, Nixon master danced to a number from Orange and entertained the audience with his moves.

Next item was “Breaking News” – a hilarious comedy play directed by Kalyan Kattamuri. This play was a humorous take on the current day news reporting in all the news channels back home. The reporting coupled with situational comedy with various characters on stage provided rib ticking comedy and was received with thunderous applause from the audience.

Musical Masti – a musical medley with an ensemble of over 20 singers from BATA Karaoke & Virijallu Padalani Vundi was an icing on the cake. The little kids rendition of Anjali song was a treat to watch. Then followed a number of hit songs like Botany Patamundi, chitapata chinukulu, Panchadara bomma, Telisindi Le Telisinde Le, Balapam Patti, Aaku Chatu, Bangaru Kodi Petta, Rabbaru Gajulu etc. by talented bay area singers. Prasad Mangina who coordinated this event introduced all the singers & thanked them for their participation.

Modern dances were next with some foot tapping numbers from the latest movies. This included songs from Robo, Khaleja, KIKK, Yamadonga, Adhurs & others. The highly energetic dances were received with thunderous applause & cheers from the audience. They provided the fitting finale to the exuberant entertainment provided this evening. The formations, elaborate dance movements and the interspersing of the kids back and forth was beautifully done and enthrallred audience. Dances were choreographed by Vijaya Aasuri, Srilu Veligeti, Sai Kiran Kumar, Sirisha Battula, Sridevi Pasupuleti, Deepti Satti, Kiran Vinnakota and Ranjani Manda.

Vijaya Aasuri invited Hari Inturu, producer from TV9. He mentioned that he was thoroughly impressed and surprised at the variety displayed in the show and promised to telecast up to 30 min special program in TV9 covering the BATA Deepavali event.

Srilu Veligeti, president of BATA, thanked all the audience for gracing the occasion despite being a rainy Sunday. She thanked all the sponsors for their support to the organization through the years. She mentioned that BATA made signification strides in doing things besides the cultural programs such as partnering with non-profits like Sankara Eye Foundation, ILP, CCF, Spandana and organizing activities such as Fundraisers and Sports Tournaments. She pointed that BATA is all about encouraging new talent and creating an environment where the talent can be nourished and appreciated. BATA conducted rehearsals in 4 cities Fremont, San Jose, Cupertino and San Ramon purely to cater to the demand of kids & adults to be part of the BATA show.

Ramesh Konda thanked all the sponsors and invited them on stage to present a token of appreciation to each one of them. The Grand sponsor of the event is Ravi Tax Services and other sponsors for the event included Wellsfargo Mortagage, Swagat Pickles, Milpitas Namaste Plaza, Channel Real Estate, Restore Smiles Dental, Shree Jewellers, Paratha Point, Hot breads, Peacock, Abhiruchi, Athidhi, Restore Smiles Dental, Scopus Consulting Group and Media partners Virijallu, Pravasavani, Namaste Andhra & Mahima Creations.

Srilu Veligeti introduced the BATA committee consisting of Srinivas Kolli (Vice President), Srini Mangipudi (Secretary), Ramesh Konda (Treasurer), Kamesh Malla (Joint Secretary), Vijaya Aasuri, Kalyan Kattamuri , Sirisha Battula, Yashwant Kudravalli and Ujwal. Srilu specially thanked Veeru Vuppala and Karun Veligeti for logistical help & overall co-ordination. She also thanked all the volunteers who toiled hard tirelessly in making the event a grand success. BATA volunteers Prasad, Ravi, Yugandhar, Sridevi, Sumanth, Sravanti, Jhansi, Sudha, Kondal, Sai, Deepti, Deepika, Ram, Prasad, Keerthi, Tanuja, Roopa, Shiva, Anil, Jyothi, Durga, Neetu, Vihar, Naresh, Srikar, Deepti, Sailaja, Sirisha, Jyotsna, Mahesh, Kiran, Praveen, Mahati, Guhan .

Overall – it indeed was a bright, colorful and lively Deepavali from BATA.