Telugu Association of Greater Boston’s Sankranti and 59th
Republic Day Celebrations. With more than 600 Boston-area Telugu community members in attendance, the Telugu Association of
Greater Boston (TAGB) celebrated the Sankranti festival on Saturday, January 26th in Littleton, MA.

The cultural entertainment program combined inspired performances by local talent with professionally rendered music and dance numbers by outside invited artistes. The organizing committee took pains to create an ambience of traditional Sankranti both inside the auditorium and outside, with ‘Bommala Koluvu’ (display of artistic dolls), enlightening messages on poster boards, and a scrumptious dinner. The literary, art, and rangoli competitions for children and adults held before the start of the main cultural program, as well as the traditional ‘Bhogipallu’ for children as one of the first items in the main program, also contributed to this festive mindset. A welcome prayer by Valli Bhamidipati and introductory remarks by the moderators, Vamsi
Koduri, Madhavi Kamma and Deepti, kicked off the evening’s entertainment event.

The two main items of the evening were a contemporary movie song medley by father-son singing duo of Prasad and Kaushik Ram Kommaraju, and a rendering of traditional Kuchipudi ballet “Sri Krishna Parijatam” by disciples of the famous Smt. Shobha Naidu. Kaushik Ram and Prasad, who are natives of North Carolina, melodiously rendered many popular Telugu and Hindi movie songs and kept the audience enthusiastically engaged through out. There is no doubt that the young and talented Kaushik Ram, winner of
this year’s “Ghantasala Music Award” along with many others accolades, is an inspiring role model for Telugu youth in this country, and a supremely talented musician who has the potential to be a cultural icon.

The other major item of the evening’s program, the Kuchipudi ballet choreographed by maestro Sri Vempati Chinna Satyam and performed with amazing grace by Sailaja Chowdary, Swati Gundapaneni, Lakshmi Babu
and Pushyami Gottipati, highlighted the more than 500 year old tradition of Kuchipudi dance in Andhra Pradesh and provided a much needed traditional mooring for the otherwise contemporary-themed program.The innovative skate dancing of ‘Vandemataram’ (India’s national song), choreographed and performed by Ms. Lakshmi Manasa, deserves a special mention. It is not only an innovative fusion of multiple arts, but was also rendered with an elegance and fluidity that captured the audience’s imagination and admiration. Other
items by local artistes – the choreographed dance item by Vamsi Koduri, classical music by Uma Billakanti, mimicry by Ravi Chilakamarri, instrumental rendering of film songs by Durga Devarakonda, Kondaiah Duvvuri and Rambhaskar Nouduri – all provided a good mix and were heartily appreciated by those in attendance. Recipient of ‘Best Neurologist” award by the US Government, local member Dr. Nagagopal Venn a presented mementos to the singers. Mrs. B.V.Satyavati, TV producer from India, presented mementos to the Kuchipudi dancers.

The other major item of the evening was the introduction of newly-elected governing committee of TAGB. Opening this event, outgoing President Sreenivas Kaki thanked the many volunteers and the committee
members for making the previous two years a very memorable and successful period in TAGB’s history.Although a lot of what was planned has been achieved – like the redesigning of the web site, reinstatement
life membership scheme, appropriate encouragement and role for TAGB youth, developing relationships with local Indian bodies as well as Telugu bodies in other parts of the US, etc – a lot still remains to be done to
make TAGB more accessible and useful to the local community members.

Goals that were planned but remain in progress include achieving non-profit status for TAGB, more involvement in community activities,
college and career guidance programs for youth, and others, which are planned and will be implemented in the coming years. Mr. Kaki also highlighted the financial contributions made not only by individual donors
but also by a slew of local businesses that have strengthened TAGB ad made it possible to stage many of the programs. After a felicitation of all the current Executive, Advisory and Constitution members of TAGB, the new committee was introduced to the audience. Under the leadership of Dr. Surya Jayanthi, President, thenew committee consisting of Koteswara Rao, Murthy Kanneganti, Krishnamurty Naidu, and TaranathYerabotu was welcomed by the audience. Dr. Jayanti in his response requested continuing support from the members and promised many new programs that will provide the community with new avenues and opportunities. He thanked the outgoing President Sreenivas Kaki for his leadership and tireless efforts in
bringing TAGB to the success that it is enjoying now.

The concluding item of the program was the honoring of the winners of the rangoli, literary and art competitions, selected by judges Smt. Rama Jayanti and Dr. Ammani Dasari. In his vote of thanks, Dr. Surya Jayanthi offered thanks to all the local participants, to the outside artistes, to the volunteers who supplied decoration items for “Bommala Koluvu” and to all other volunteers, and to the sponsors who took care of partial expenses and made the program successful, Sri Mohan Nannapaneni, Dr. Seshagiri Rao Meka, Dr.Mukunda Dogiparthi, Sri Baburao Polavarapu, and to Kebab Restaurant. The evening concluded with a rendering of the Indian national anthem.
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Devarakonda Sreenivasa Rao
Westford, MA.

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