Telangana NRI Association (TeNA) Boston Chapter celebrated its flagship annual event, “Boston Telangana Night 2009” on May 9th 2009, Saturday in Acton , Massachusetts .

Telanganites from Boston Metro area showed up in large numbers to make the 3rd Telangana Night a grand success.  More than 400 people including many non-Telanganites took very active participation.  The participants came from all over New England and as far away as Washington DC, New Jersey and New York came to witness the splendid performances of Telangana folk songs, music, dance and games for kids including the Tambola.
 
The event was kicked off with a brief welcome speech by TeNA Board of Trustee, Venkat Maroju and followed by devotional song Shuklambaradaram by Pooja and Rithika and welcome dance by Rithika and Rishika.  Geethanjali Karmilla and Shanti Putta acted as the master of ceremony for the event.

There were several performances by kids and elders throughout the night bringing back the memories of rich Telangana rural culture of folk music, songs and dances.  Group singing of “Jaya Jaya He Telangana” lead by Ramesh Dadigala generated huge chorus from all the participants demonstrating their emotional bond to the mother Telangana.  Folk dance by Sindhuja and Anvita was a special attraction of the evening.  Alok Macharla’s dance to the Telangana folk dance engaged almost all the audience.  Telangana fashion show by kids and elders has attracted the audience the most.  Kids dress up as Bathukamma girl (Pooja), Nizam (Yuven), Rani Rudramadevi (Rithika), Telangana heroine (Rishika), Telangana rural couple (Avita and Sindhu), Software engineer (Alok), Kirshna and gopikas (Satwika, Tanvi and Hansika), Sodhi girl (Neha).  Imitation of KCR by Anil Karmilla was the climax of the fashion show.  Kung Fu demonstration by Maroju sisters Jagruthi and Pragathi added a new flavor to the evening.  The audience participated very enthusiastically in the Tambola game chanting Jai Telangana whenever some one claimed the prize.

Traditional Telangana dishes were served for snacks and dinner.  Kudumulu, Sakinalu, Sarva Pindi and Gudalu were some of the special snacks served.  Sujatha Devi Peechara visiting from India was instrumental in preparing the traditional Telangana snacks.

The chief guests for the occasion, Ravi Dhannapuneni, Ravi Puli and Ramakant Peechara distributed the prizes to all the participants who performed and the winners of the “Boston Telangana Cricket Veera” tournament.

This year, in conjunction with the Telangana Night, TeNA organized the cricket tournament called “Boston Telangana Cricket Veera Cup” one week before the event.  There were 3 teams (Kakatiyas, Shatavahanas and Nizams) participated in the tournament.  The tournament ended in a thrilling clomax as the Kakatiyas won the final match by hitting a sixer of the last ball to claim the title.  Man of the tournament was awarded to Shiva Yerramsetty who scored 37 runs and took 6 wickets.  Best batsman and best bowler went to Rajender Cheeti and Venu Madadi respectively.  Best scene of the tournament was Madhu Ballikonda scoring sixer of the last ball when their team needed to 6 runs to win.

Kids participated in huge numbers in the “Color Telangana” competition which was jointly hosted by “Discover Telangana” organization.

Amar Karmilla, TeNA treasurer and Advisory Committee member thanked all those who were involved in making this event a grand success; Manjula Meneni, Srinivas Rao Meneni, Geetanjali Karmilla, Rohini Kaluvala, Rajedar Kaluvala, Kavita Peechara, Sunil Peechara, Sarita Muddasani, Venkat Reddy Muddasani, Sai Swaroop Thota, Sidhartha Pamulaparthy, Naveena Putta, Shanti Putta, Parvathi Dadigala, Ramesh Dadigala, Vinaya Surineni, Rammohan Surineni, Jyothi Macharla, Badri Macharla, Shilpa Takkalapelli, Sridhar Takkalapelli, Venu Veeramaneni, Srilatha Veeramaneni, Anitha Muppala, Sharat Muppala, Rajender Cheeti, Latha Cheeti, Soujanya Dongari, Kumar Dongari, Lavanya Takkalapelli, Satish Takkalapelli, Vijaya Maroju and Venkat Maroju.

The event turned out to be a big success far beyond the expectations of organizers and all the participants were delighted that the event brought back fond memories of unique Telangana culture.  Many of the non-Telanganites including people who belonged to coastal Andhra region appreciated the unique culture and traditions of Telangana.

 

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