Telugu Association Of Greater Boston, Deepavai Celebrations on 24^th October at Littleton High School Auditorium, Littleton, MA

Saturday , October 24^th was a day filled with the smell of delicious foods, the chatter of women shopping the latest fashions, the giggles of little children dressed in authentic south Indian clothing, a background of the latest Tollywood tracks, and so much more. Yesterday was not only a celebration of one the most sought after festivals of India, Diwali. It was also a milestone in the history of TAGB (Telugu Association of Greater Boston). TAGB yet again produced a day full of celebration with a flawlessly executed cultural program. There were a variety of activities, the day started around 2 PM with a social hour, followed by the set up of many stalls (ranging from snacks to the stylish fashions of Andhra Pradesh and glistening jewelry), while all these happened the cultural program was happening inside of the auditorium of Littleton High School. Around 6:30pm Minerva set up a grand fest of Andhra cuisine in the cafeteria. The MCs of the night were Pranathi Kaki, Vamsi Koduri, Deepthi Kanuparthi.

As a tradition the show kicked off with a prayer but there was a special twist. The prayers were sung by 5 years old Pradyoth and 3 year old Pramithi Kalluri. They sang so beautifully with diction and absolutely no stage fear. Following was the classic Maa Telugu Talli song. A mythological skit was demonstrated by the Ashland Pragna students,. The play was Bhakta Prahlada and was spectacular, for the ages of the kids they did a marvelous job delivering their lines in the mother tongue and the parents should be applauded for their hard efforts in making such impeccable costumes. Following was a Monkey (Hanuman) dance by 6 year boys, as they jumped and played wagging their tails to the music of the famous hanuman animated movie. They wowed the audience members as they turned the stage into their own playground. There were so many other performances done by the little ones of the community who all taught the audience how to be fearless and courageous as they “walked the walk” in the fancy dress portion, as they shook their little hips to the high beats of Tollywood music and danced to the classical notes of Carnatic music.

          Another unique performance was the combination of mother and daughter on stage simultaneously and danced to the evergreen song Bo Shambo (Renuka and Sravya Tirunahari). It was a beautiful picture to see two beautiful women on stage together sharing the same passion they have for each other in their art.  Another marvelous performance was done by twins, (Nikitha Kodali and Ankitha Kodali), Marakatha Manimaya is a very famous piece in the Kuchipudi style of dance and it was beautifully choreographed by Sailaja Chaudary. The later half of the show was rocking and rolling while the cool dudes and gals of teenage year came about and showed off their talents to groovy beats. There was a prop dance done to Jai Ho that was done solo with props (Choreography Manasa Jayanthi). Never were the hands of these girls empty as they tossed ribbons in the air, fanned themselves and so much more. Sandeep Kurapathi, Manasa Jayanthi, Arjun Kalyan and Anil Ponnapali all sang to latest film songs and were joined by the audience as members jumped onto the stage to dance and support them and their tunes.

Then comes the Eka Patrabhinayanam “Mayala Phakeer” by Gudivada Upendra Rao which made audience scary and enjoyable , Ravi Chilkamari blew the audience away with his mimicry as the audience sat wide eyed and amazed. Overall all the performances were outstanding and the backstage crew was at ease as everyone lined up and was handed trophies afterwards.

Congrats to all the performers and volunteers it was a highly professional show.

          The scrumptious foods were prepared , sold , donated and sponsored by VT Seva, NESSP, Minerva restaurant, Sri Nanapanneni Mohan, Dr, Murthy and Smt.Vani. The proceedings of the snack stalls went directly to the Andhra Pradesh flood relief funds. The menu for the night was Gongura Pappu, Bombay Allu, Bhindi, Vegetable Biryani, Curd Rice, and for dessert Gulab Jamun. All of these were catered by Minerva Restaurant.

          There was a special presentation about Organ Donation and its importance. Volunteers of the New England Organ bank delivered a note on the importance of giving a life. After the terrible accident on Rt 495 of the visiting parents of Sripal, Sripal and his friend RamKishore Sadhu, an importance lesson was demonstrated to the telugu community about organ donation. RamKishore Sadhu, late twenties when he passed away left the world giving life. He had registered to donate his heart, kidneys, bone marrow, liver, and lungs. From the youth of this community Bhavana Kaki talked about the importance of organ donation. Sri  Nannapanneni Mohan was recognized by the TAGB community for all his extraordinary help and his lending hand to all of those affected by this tragic accident. He not only helped communicate with sister organization TANA but also helped raise awareness in many areas of what happened. He selflessly helped so much for this cause. There aren’t words to praise his philanthropic side.

          The show was concluded with a vote thanks by President Dr. Surya Jayanthi, and by the national anthem of India. After the show the scene outside the auditorium was brightly colored by churidhars, lehangas, sarees, kurthas, dress shirts, jewels, etc. as people gathered around to discuss the festivities of this grand affair. Overall it was another success that hit the books in TAGB’s history.

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