Telugu Association of Greater Boston (TAGB) celebrated the arrival of Telugu New Year “VIKRUTI” and the holy festival of Srirama Navami with a lot of fanfare on Saturday, 3^rd April, 2010 at the local Canton High School Auditorium in Canton, MA.

Attendees to the TAGB festive celebrations were greeted at the reception with the traditional “Ugadi Pachhadi” & “Panakam”. The program started at around 3:20 pm and soon the auditorium was full; with overflow, people were standing at the back. 

This celebration is the first program conducted under the newly elected Executive Committee and drew a crowd of over 1500 people. The New Executive Committee (2010-11) comprising

·         President - Prakash Reddy  

·         President Elect  - Dr.Murthy Kanneganti  

·         Secretary - Koteswara Rao Kandukuri

·         Treasurer - Siva Dogiparthi

·         Cultural Secretary - Mrs. Padma Parakala

·         Joint Secretary -  Srinivas Chaganti

·         Joint Treasurer - Srinivas Kollipara

TAGB Board of Trustees were introduced to the community consisting of

·         Chairman - Sri Mohan Nannapaneni

·         Vice Chairman - Sri Papa Rao Gundavaram

·         Trustee - Dr. Ammani Dasari

·         Trustee - Sri Purnachandra Rao Bolneni

·         Trustee - Sri Baburao Polavarapu

·         Trustee - Sri Sreenivas Kaki and

·         Trustee - Dr.Surya Jayanthi.

The newly elected Executive Committee and the Board of Trustees took over the charge of their new term and successfully executed a mega hit program.

The program started with a welcome note by Treasurer Siva Dogiparthi. Smt. Gayatri Tadi, Sri Vamsi Koduri, Chy. Kalyan Amaravadi & Kum. Bhavana Chalupadi compered the seven hour long cultural program.

The ensuing program displayed a variety of local talent by the children of Greater Boston Telugu community. The program consisted of more than 40 items including classical dances, film dances, Poems and Classical songs mostly representing the Telugu culture and traditions. 

Around 200 children from a tender age of 2 to 25 participated and presented their broad talents to the pleasant applaud of the audience on the beautifully decorated stage.   The rendition of “Vemana Padyaalu” throughout the program by the younger children was like a sprinkle of garnish on a well prepared dish!

No Ugadi celebration is complete without the traditional Panchanga Sravanam.  Sri PVR Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrologer, gave a commentary predicting what is to come in the coming year of “Vikruti Nama Samvatsaram”. 

One of the highlights of the local talent is the performance “Moves on the Wheels” (dancing on skates) presented by Manasa Laxmi and her team. “Taaye Yasoda, a semi classical film song and a few other songs were choreographed excellently to the mesmerized audience for a thunderous applause.

In his presidential address Sri Prakash Reddy welcomed the audience with Ugadi greetings and announced that more than 80 new families became members as part of the membership drive. He thanked new and existing members for their support to TAGB. He mentioned that the new committee has made changes to the program structure based on the feedback and experience to suit the needs of all age groups.  He announced that TAGB Silver Jubilee celebrations will be organized this year and a date will be communicated soon.

Audiences were also delighted by the presence of 3 external artists in this fun filled, packed Ugadi celebrations!

Famous Telugu Poet, Film Director and Lyricist, Sri Jonnavithula Ramalingeswara Rao came on to the stage and entertained the audience with his oratory style, pun and innovative techniques of poetry in Telugu Language and Literature.  His “Navvula Puvvulu” started with several jokes, hilarious parodies, poems and songs that enticed and elevated the spirits of the audience. 

As a special treat TAGB presented a musical performance by renowned playback singer & artist Shri. Nemani Parthasarathy also known as “Parthu”. He was supported by Smt. Sowjanya who is an accomplished singer by herself.  With a mix of old and new songs and with their beautiful voices both Parthu & Sowjanya entertained and inspired all generations of audience, who didn’t want to leave the auditorium until they stopped singing.

Sri Mohan Nannapaneni, Sri Prakash Reddy, Sri Haribabu Muddana, Sri Sudhakar Madala, Dr. Murthy Kanneganti, Sri Srinivas Kollipara, Sri Siva Dogiparthi, Sri Srinivas Chaganti, Sri Sreenivas Kaki and Smt. Padma Parakala honored external artists with shawls, mementoes and bouquets.

The Event was partially sponsored by Sri Mohan Nannapaneni, all the executive committee members, Sri Manohar Sriramaneni of MyTaxLinx, Mr.Mark Buchanan of New England Stage Works and many other Donors in various means.

Delicious Dinner was provided by Minerva Indian Cuisine at nominal cost.  Snacks were donated by TAGB Volunteer families along with Minerva and were provided to the community at nominal cost.  

Cultural secretary Smt. Padma Parakala praised the artists for their excellent performance. General Secretary Sri. Koteswara Rao Kandukuri proposed vote of thanks to all who helped making this program a grand success.

The program concluded with an inspiring patriotic song by Parthu “Punya Bhoomi Naa desam Namo Namami” followed by our Indian National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana…’.

|