TAGB celebrates Ugadi in a grand way

The Telugu Association of Greater Boston (TAGB) celebrated Ugadi event Telugu New Year 'Sri Nandana Naama Samvastaram' in a very grand way at Marlborough Middle School Auditorium on Saturday April 21.

More than 1200 community members graced the occasion and made it a grand successful event. TAGB President Srinivas Kollipara and Cultural Secretary Niranjan Avadhuta along with the newly formed executive committee members greeted and welcomed all the attendees with New Year wishes and traditional "Udagi Patchadi" and 'Panakam'.

The program started with a welcome note by cultural secretary Nirajan Avadhuta. All programs for the evening were conceptualized by the new cultural committee under the guidance of Nirajan Avadhuta. More than 200 talented local artists of ages from 6 to 60 participated and performed on the stage which includes songs, skits, dances and drams.

Students of "Prajna Center" portrayed a skit "Sri Venkateshwara Avataaram' the incarnation of Lord Venkateshwara. Credit goes to the Art director of the Program for makeup the kids like Brahma and Vishnu.

Balalahari students narrated NRI Kids Telugu knowledge as hilarious drama "Memu Telugu Virgateestamu'. Another comedy skit "Maplewood Medhavulu" by Chandra Talluri and friends was perfect recipe for fun lovers. One of the educational narrations about Dr. Ellapragada Subbarao directed by Dr.Bhisetti Govindarao enlightened all the audience about the great scientist.

Traditionally every year Ugadi celebration includes Panchanga Sravanam by PVR Narasimha Rao and this year also TAGB continued the same tradition. Kids showcased their talent in various fields like singing, classical dance, folk dance and dancing to latest catchy Tollywood filmy songs.

Group dance by girls for remix of the song "Danchave Mentta Kootura" was one of the highlights for the evening. Smt. Radhika Dixit and team sung melodious songs about Udagi and its significance which were composed by Devulapalli Krishna Sastry and Vinjamuri SivaRama rao.

TAGB committee received a lot of encouraging and affirmative feedback from the attendees about the variety of the programs and the importance of these events for keeping our tradition and culture for next generations.

More than 35 variety programs were part of the 6 hour long event. The evening was concluded with mesmerizing and melodious musical night by local artists SriHarsha Sista, Valli Amaravadi and Kashyap Veluturupalli. MCs for the event, Madhavi Inukoti, Bhanu Yenisetti, Sri Kiran and Manasa Jayanti made the evening vivacious with their wit.

The former president of the association Smt. Dr. Ammani spoke about Laxmi Temple's expansion projects and encouraged members to donate for the cause. Sri Sompuram SeshiReddy garu explicated about local educational institute "Sishu Bharati" and their activities for teaching Telugu to NRI kids.

In his presidential address Srinivas Kollipara introduced the Board of trustee members Dr. Govindarao Bhisetti (BOT Chair), Baburao Polavarapu(BOT Vice-chair), Dr. Haribabu Muddana, Mallareddy Karra, Purna Rao Bolineni, Koteswarrao Kandukuri, Janardhan Sonthi and Executive committee members Ramesh Tallam(President Elect), Ram Gubbala (Secretary), Chandra Talluri (Treasurer), Niranjan Avadhuta (Cultural Secretary), Shankar Magapu (Jt.Secretary), and Srinivas Batchu (Jt.treasurer) to TAGB members and assured that he will bring in variety of programs and makes sure the community is contented with the events.

TANA Executive Vice President Mohan Nannapaneni congratulated the new executive committee. Delicious Dinner was provided by Minerva Indian Cuisine at a very nominal cost. Variety of Snacks were sold by TAGB Volunteers and food committee members along with Pizza for kids at nominal cost. The program was concluded with Indian National Anthem 'Jana Gana Mana'.