BATA celebrates Sankranthi in a grand way

Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA) celebrated Sankranthi festival in a grand style on February 2, 2013 by hosting various activities such as Cooking competitions, Artcompetitions, Essay competitions, Rangoli competitions, 'Paatala Pallaki' musical concert, Speech by Sri Swami Prasannatmananda, On-stage game show, Hilarious comedy skit, Dances for songs, and a Spectacularfashion show. Over 700 guests attended the glittering event which started at 3:30 pm and went on till 10:30 pm non-stop with various activities and programs.

There was a huge support for this event from the businesses. Ramesh Konda thanked all the sponsors and recognized their names on the stage. Ravi Tax Services was the Grand Sponsor of the event. Other sponsors include Scopus Consulting Group, Channel Real Estate & Mortgage, Swagat Indian Cuisine, and Peacock Indian Cuisine. Virijallu, Desi 1170am, and Telugu Times were the media partners of the event.

The main cultural program started around 5:30pm. Vijaya Aasuri (BATA Advisor and Cultural Secretary) officially kicked off the evening cultural program by inviting all the kids for 'BhogiPallu' in front of the bommalakoluvu. The congregation of 100 kids & elders with traditional devotional songs by grandparents made it seem like a big family gathering ' 'VasudhaikaKutumba'. The grandparents and parents gave the blessings to the kids on the occasion of Sankranthi.

After the 'BhogiPallu', the evening culturalprogram started with prayer song by the students of Gamakam Carnatic Music School.Followed by this, BATA committee members felicitated the 'Guest of Honor' for the evening Swami Prasannatmananda of Vedanta Society of Berkeley on the occasion of 150th Birth Anniversary of Sri Vivekananda Swamy.

In his keynote speech, Swami Prasannatmananda shared the teachings and vision of Vivekananda Swamy with the guests. The words of wisdom provided by Swamiji were invaluable and precious.A spectacular classical dance ballet followed thereafter performed by the students from Madhuri Kishore Kuchipudi Dance School.

Ramesh Konda, President of BATA, thanked all the audience for gracing the occasion and making it a big success. He thanked all the participants for their commitment an enthusiastic participation in the competitions and cultural programs.He also thanked all the sponsors for their invaluable support to the organization over the years.

Ramesh thanked Veeru Vuppala, Prasad Mangina, Karun Veligeti, Srilu, Ravi, Sridevi, Srikar, Jhansi, Shiva, Durga, Deepti, Sirisha, Ratna, Sravanthi, Swathi, Aparna, Chandra, Preeti, and other volunteers who worked tirelessly to make the event a grand success.

BATA committee consists of: Ramesh Konda (President), Kamesh Malla (Vice President), Kalyan Kattamuri (Secretary), Sirisha Battula (Treasurer), Yaswanth Kudaravalli (Joint Secretary), Vijaya Aasuri (Cultural Secretary), Jyotsna Bendapudi, SumanthPusuluri and Kondal Komaragiri.