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Grand Ugadi Celebrations in New York
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On Saturday, April 24, 2004, the Telugu Literary and Cultural Association (TLCA) celebrated Ugadi as an all day program. The daytime part of the program was taken up by the talent competitions. Scores of bright eyed young boys and girls eagerly showed off their talents in the fine arts of singing, dancing, drawing, painting; and made us all proud with their insightful and impressive skills at writing and speaking. Considering the fact that these children are growing up thousands of miles away from our Telugu Talli, their mastery of the intricacies of Telugu songs and classical dance forms was amazing.

Patriotic Group Dance

The day started early in the morning, with an invocation to Ganesha. This was followed by the vocal music contests. Telugu boys and girls, of all ages, thrilled the audience with spirited and heartfelt renderings of movie songs, from old favorites of their parents to brand new modern songs. The classical music contests set an impressive standard. In fact, some of these kids were so good that if you closed your eyes, you might believe you were in a concert in Madras! Then followed the dance contests, with various age groups, classical as well as folk dances, solo and group performances. It was a feast for the eyes, and for the ears. I didn't envy the judges their tasks - it must have been a difficult, if exhilarating, task to pick winners among these uniformly and exceptionally talented contestants. There were also drawing and painting contests, which appealed to the younger kids. Several pictures of Powerpuff girls, sharing wall space with pictures of Sai Baba and the holy cow .. we have lots of budding talent in our midst. These artworks will be showcased on our website in the coming months .. After a tasty yet quick lunch, I was privileged to judge the essay writing contest. There were two age groups participating, with a choice of three topics each. Surprisingly, every one of the contestants picked the same topic - the youngsters (9-14) discoursed on what the legal driving age should be (they all agreed on 18!) and the older kids wrote about how Indian culture affected their upbringing. The insights shown by this older group impressed me. 'When making decisions on how to act, Indian children usually chose the more safe way' 'America has given me a host of wonderful opportunities - my Indian roots taught me to grasp these opportunities and make the most of them' 'Indian culture does not just mean classical dance and singing - it is more of a way of life, and the values it conveys and teaches'. These essays will soon be published on our website, and you can see for yourself what our kids think! The elocution contest, which followed, showcased more of the freethinking spirit in our children. Here again, there were passionately argued viewpoints, (eg.,'Are we losing the war on terror? No. We already lost'). Who knows - one of these very kids might one day be our president! The evening program began with a welcome speech by our President Anju Kondabolu. She welcomed the gathering, congratulated the performances of the children, and called upon the parents to continue to make sure that our children grow up learning the Telugu ways and most importantly, the language and the arts. This was followed by a deeply touching play 'Sampada' performed by Appajosyula Satyanarayana and party. This play was a winner of the Nandi award, and it was easy to see why - it was a moving performance, and the very talented cast expertly handled all the various emotions it called for. It was more than an equal for any movie, and proceeded just as smoothly - you almost forgot that it was a live performance, and must have taken hours of practice to perfect. Bravo, Satyanarayana garu! The Chief Guest for the evening was Dr.Kiran Bedi, popularly known as Kiranji. We hardly need to introduce someone of her stature - her latest prestigious title is the United Nations Civilian Police Advisor, the first woman and the first Indian to attain this post. But what we saw that evening was a side of her that, few, probably, have seen - she was amazing with the children. Calling all the kids, who were waiting patiently for the results of the contests to be announced, to sit in front of her, she engaged them in sparkling conversation. She elicited from them their goals in life, and stressed the importance of hard work and time management. It must have been a very interesting experience for them; it certainly was so for the proud parents watching on as their children made very grown up and very embarrassing statements! Dr.Bedi also had some very nice words for the parents, and indeed the entire organization. She was happy, she said, to see that thousands of miles away from India, there was such a strong community spirit, and that we were trying to keep the culture alive. This was followed by the eagerly awaited dance performance by the ladies of the TLCA. It was a spirited and high-energy dance, with a fusion of three different dance styles. The music was from popular Hindi songs, with a strong beat that had the audience clapping along and whistling for more!

TLCA President Lakshmi (Anju) Kondabolu with Kiran Bedi. TLCA Vice President Prasad Kambhampaty is in the picture.

Every one was a winner that day. But someone had to win the contests, and Kiranji handed out the prizes for the Winners in her own special way. She made time for a few words and a hug with each of the winners, and made each of them feel special. We then broke for the grand Vindu bhojanam, with several delicious courses, including sweets! And then it was back for a different kind of feast, one for the ears. The music program by Madhu, Radhika and Arathi surpassed all expectations. Madhu's voice was reminiscent of SPB at his prime, and his starting of the program with the rendition of the beautiful Annamacharya krithi #adigO alladigO sree hari vaasamU# set the bar high for the rest of the program. The program continued till late at night. But it is safe to say, few were in a hurry for it to end. And when it did end, like it eventually had to, we were all looking forward to the next time. Congratulations are in order to the President Anju Kondabolu, executive committee member Vijaya Nyayapathi, and the new management team for making this function - their first one - such a grand success in every sense of the word . From the Childrens competitions to the evening primetime programme every minute was carefully planned and executed. This was the first time in the history of TLCA that an event was attended by 700 people. We look forward to more such affairs over the rest of the year.

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