Epaper
Sentiments of 40 million people living in Telangana region were echoed by 700 Telanganites living in Metro Atlanta area on June 7th at an event held at GA Tech Robert Ferst Center to commemorate 29th State of India. Ravi Chakati and Sivanagulu, folk singers who gained international fame through Maa TV’s Rela-re-Rela Show, rocked the stage along with local talent and artists from others States.
The event was celebrated with a bunch of brilliantly choreographed dances and extraordinary rendered songs. The program started with lighting of lamp by the community leader Narender Reddy, Director on the TCI Board and Srijan Joginapally, President of the Talangana Community along with all the officers of Executive Committee and Board of Directors in the presence of all the backstage volunteers. Viju Chiluveru, the event manager and Director of the TCI Board. introduced the MCs who took over the rest of the program line-up and executed it flawlessly.
The cultural program started with a dance by Manasvi Gaddam which was followed by an extraordinary group dance ‘Lamba, Lamba’, choreographed by Neelima Gaddmanugu who has been helping the organization for several years. Later a child prodigy played guitar to play a film song. The kick-off of first segment by guest artists, Ravi and Sivanagulu, raised the excitement in the audience. This was followed by the first stellar Kolaatam folk dance of the night by ten artists of all ages to the song ‘Podala Podala Gatla Naduma’ choreographed by young dancer, Geetika Jape. The other artists were Geetika Jape, Sonal jape, Renuka durgam, Tanuja Jape, Kanchan Jape, Chaitanya Nakkerty, Sameeksha Gaherwar, Neetu Chauhan, Akhila Ballari, Rupa pannela. Another superb dance by Vishwadha Gunda, who came all the way from Alabama was well-received and praised by the audience. Audience paid homage to all those who sacrificed their lives for Telangana.
Another folk dance to the song ‘Golla Mallamma’ by little kids Srinidhi Vangala, Srihitha Chakilam, Siri Reddy & Tanvitha Kotla was a great hit. Several songs in Telugu and Hindi were rendered by Srinivas Durgam, Janardhan Pannela, Suchetha Dontula from South Carolina and Renuka Reddy from North Carolina. A pinch of variety was added to the event with a Qawali with a medley of hit Hindi Songs. This was choreographed by Maitreyi Gangaraju a well-known artist and dance teacher. The artists of this dance were Praneeth, Ala, Madhurima, Charugundla, Sravani, Rachakulla, Venkat, Gadam, Vinod, Nagula, Rajani, Vootla, Neetu, Singh and Srinivas Durgam.
Another superbly choreographed group dance, celebrating Bonaalu – a festival offering prayers to the Goddess Ammavaru. Geetika Jape coordinating this item and received several accolades and a standing ovation from audience.
MCs of the night, Anitha Vangala, Swapna Katta, Madhurima Charugandla and Sunitha Chakilam have presented the event with several improvisations interspersed by information about the struggle Telangana State and Trivia Questions for the audience.
Narender Reddy in his message said, “Now that we regained our own State we have a major responsibility of rebuilding the land and turn it into a golden region”. He urged every Telanganite to contribute their innovative ideas to transforming Telangana into a model State”. Later he invited Mr. Ashok Kumar, Deputy Consul from Consulate of India in Atlanta who addressed the audience and congratulated the Telangana Community on the new state.
The free event, Telangana Formation Day, was open to all, made possible several sponsors and donors. Scores of Volunteers have worked for weeks to make this first ever major event after forming a new state a memorable one. Nanda Chatla, Mahesh Nilagiri and Raghu Reddy led the volunteers group. Edukondalu led the team to decorate the stage. The officers of Executive Committee Venkat Veeraneni, Prabhakar Boyapally and Mahesh Nilagiri have supported in various departments. Vivek Reddy, Karunakar Reddy Asireddy and other Directors of the Board, along with Past President Rathnakar Elugunti, Directrors Prashanthi Asireddy, Ramadevi Boyapally and Madhavi Gangsani were present at the venue to oversee the activities.
The event ended with the final segment by Ravi and Sivanagulu by singing a song written by Viju Chiluveru ‘Choodu, Choodu, Choodavamma Naa Telangana’. Audience left with extreme level of contentment and will eagerly look forward to TCI next major event Bathukamma in the month September.
The TCI recognizes and appreciates the following sponsors of the event. Promod Sajja, Kiran Pasham, Ravi Chander, Mahesh Nilagiri, Arun Katpally, Madhavi Gangasani, Karunakar Asireddy, Dr. Bharath R. Naravetla, Chandra Solipuram, Prabhakar Putta, Venkatramana Gaddam, Vivek Reddy, Sai Edavally, Shailaja Singh and others.
Few photos of the event are posted at the below link and entire event photo and video coverage will soon be available at www.telanganacommunity.org. The Telangana Formation Day celebrations were held are recorded at the Ferst Center of the Arts, Georgia Institute of Technology.
http://www.vakiti.com/2014/06/TCI-Press/n-Sv8HQ/
Report by Viju Chiluveru
Director, TCI Board