Pongal, being the harvest festival of South India was observed as Thai thirunaal on January 15, 2019 as a weeklong event in Tamil Nadu. The festival included Bhogi, Maatu Pongal and Kanu Pongal.  To celebrate the festival in its true spirit, I know how much of us love to fly back home to celebrate the same with all our loved ones. For these dejected Tamilian hearts, New England Tamil Sangam (NETS) celebrated Pongal Vizha on February 02, 2019 Saturday at Whitcomb Middle School Marlborough, MA with the best festive aura.

When I entered the venue with my family in the early morning hours, we were welcomed with the traditional Nadhaswaram music at the reception by our beloved Treasurer Thiru. Ram Sundar and Social coordinator Thiru. Karthi Arunachalam. The duo handled the front registration and welcomed the guests throughout the whole event skillfully. They were well supported by our volunteers Smt. Raji Ram Sundaram and Smt. Arathi Krishnakumar. In addition to handling at the reception desk, the two ladies had immense pleasure in handing out the participant trophies at the end of the event.

As I proceeded inside, full swing decorating the corridor with best possible grandeur along with Smt. Lekha and Smt.Priya who had volunteered her time in bringing out every intrinsic detail depicting the Pongal festival.  Hats off to our social coordinator Thiru. Suresh Krishna who adorned the stage with authentic Pongal décor and beautifully carved statues which he whole heartedly shares year after year.  

The jewel of our NETs’ crown was the exceptional Pongal banana leaf lunch served with hospitality and compassion by our NETs committee members, NETs adult volunteers, family members and youth volunteers. A huge kudos to Masala café for providing sweet pongal, poori, white rice, sambar, rasam, vartha kozhambu, kootu, poriyal, curds, appalam, pickle, vadai and payasam. The lunch would not be complete without the mukani fruits – mango, jackfruit and banana.   A big round of applause to our social coordinators Thiru. Bala Subramaniam Sankaraj, Thiru. Suresh Krishnan, Thiru. Karthikeyan Krishnamoorthy and Thiru. Prabhu Ram who deeply indulged in the food committee and contributed whole heartedly for the smooth flow of the lunch sector.

The event commenced with the singing of Thamizh Thai Vazhthu by Kalaimagal Tamil School, Shrewsbury and Acton Tamil School. Acton MA. This was followed by a welcome address by our president Thiru. Manohar Ganapathy. He not only spent his valuable time in going through details of arranging the program, but also tirelessly made sure that the event was run with grace and charm.

 With the busy line up of events, I had the privilege of sharing the stage to Mcee the evening along with our social coordinator Thiru. Senthilraja Ramasamy. It was such a proud moment to introduce our youth volunteers to Mcee the event. Special thanks to Shilpa Narayanan, Aadhi Shanmugham, Akshaya Ravi, Laya Ananthakrishnan, Rohita Krishnakumar and Tharegha Manoharan for the fluency in Tamil language to Mcee the events in turns. Special thanks to Nikita Sundaram, Rohita Krishnakumar and Tharegha Manoharan for the amazing back line up coordination for the cultural programs.  

Children adorned the stage with high quality dramas, traditional classical dances, non-classical and upbeat Tamil cinema songs, and melodious music groups with supreme melody. The props, settings, dialogues, and themes chosen by the drama actors and actresses brought out the true essence of our culture and language. Of note, Harshini Magesh dressed up as Tamil Poet Avvaiyar and singing in the voice of Late Veteran Singer K. B. Sundarambal Amma was an outstanding performance and received standing ovation.  Silapadhigaram Drama was well enacted by Lexington Tamil School children. Awesome job by our social coordinator Thiru. Krish Velmurugan who had patiently lined up the music files and played it flawless throughout the event.

The cultural event ended with breath taking light music program by our New England Super Singers - Ashwini, Reshma, Bagwat, Guru, Narataj, Nirmal, Rohini, Srihari and Sunil and by a super dance performance by New England's Michel Jackson Nataraj.

With splendor and grandeur, the vendors with clothes and jewels lit up the corridors and bought more pleasure to the guests to enjoy their shopping.

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our event sponsors: Mr. Matt Johnson and James Aldo, New York Life insurances, for their platinum sponsorship, Smt. Maha. V. Krishnakumar, Real estate, Northwestern Mutual for her gold sponsorship, Deepa Ananthakrishnan, Boston one, a dedicated realtor for her silver sponsorship, Ram Sundaram’s Agama Infotech Inc. for video booth sponsorship, to Video booth, SVTM Jewelry for contribution of silver coins, Roopa Vaidyanathan for Krishna sweets sponsor, Alankar event and wedding planners and decorators for their props sponsorship. Thanks to Thiru. Nara Narayanan for his videography and Thiru. Jaison K Jose, Jaisfotos for his photography. Smt. Shanthi Sundaramoorthy our all in all secretary for coordinating the sponsors and vendors and offering her vote of thanks.

We are so thankful to our 950 esteemed guests who adorned our event and big round of applause to the 250 plus adults and children participated in 40 cultural events. 

We would like to extend our invitation for our next upcoming NETs Chithirai Vizha in May 2019.  Stay tuned!

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