Bathukamma Festival in Bay Area celebrated at the Ortega Park Sunnyvale CA in the cloudy evening of 25th Sept 2011 in a highly grand manner amidst festivity, cheer and gaity.
It was a really a wonderful event with warm atmosphere, traditional attires and was like Dasara day in villages . It started with Gouri Pooja performed by our Asthana Poojari Sri Marepally Venkata Sastry Garu. There were more than 3 dozen Bathukamma's beautifully arranged with nice artistic combination of flowers on previous day in Bathukamma workshop which was led by Raju Yasala and Baleshwar Indarapu.
The stage was arranged by Arshad Hussain with excellent decoration. Uma Chintalapati have helped with arrangements for cultural programs while Prasad Gattu and his team have helped with registrations.
Saideesh Ajjan President of the Organzation , Bhaskar Maddi Exec-Vice President, Chandu(Chandra Kala) Siramdas convener of 2011 Bathukamma festival have ensured no stone left unturned day and night to turn the event a memorable one.
Even though it was drizzling and cloudy in the evening the good number of people turned out at the event proves that NRIs in America care to preserve , promote the centuries old Indian and Telangana Culture which is filled with joy, affection. Women were happy to get prize for identifying top 10 best bathukammas. Raju Yasala who helped women to leave their bathukamma in small lake. The entire over 30 acres park was filled with people in traditional dresses and remembered grand old festival days in India . The park was filled with flavors of flowers and food. Dinner was served by TCA with the help of sponsors who prepared traditional panduga bhojanam and lots of sweets by several bay Area Restaurants.
TCA had brought in high speed bathukamma songs special cd made for the purpose and played on this special occasion. Participants played Bathukamma nonstop for 2 hours and it was nice memorable experience.
Vijay Chavva while welcoming audience has explained the importance of culture in human life and also explained how TCA has been playing important role in NRI world by arranging this kind of cultural events every year. He also Introduced Chief Guest VV Sanyasi Rao, Internationational Trainer, Rotarion and well known philanthropist to the participants. VV Sanyasi Rao while delivering his speech expressed his surprise over large number of participants at the event and requested organization to work with other organizations in India to celebrate this festival in every corner of entire AP without any regional constraints. He also explained importance of culture in human life and how it brought richness in India ’s history. He thanked TCA for arranging this kind of festival for last 7 years in America . Saideesh Ajjan along with TCA core team have honored Sri Rao with shawl in traditional Telangana Style.
Food committee chairman Bhaskar Bandikkallu and Subash Ravada organized dishes very well with the support of following volunteers Srinivas Ruddaraju,Sai Prasad,Krishnamurthy Kuppuswami,Surendra penchala,Sridhar Gurram,Dayanand Dudyala,Ratnavel Pandian,Manoj,Babu Movva,Venkat Kurra,Srinivas Chinta,Ashok Chigulapally, Sandeep Pattem and Satya Vatti.
Biksham palabindela advisory board chairman presented awards to the raffle winners, announced the sponsors, their importance to audience and also he conveyed special thanks to Chandrakala(Chandu) Siramdas REALTY EXPERTS(Realtor), Jaspinder Singh Loan Officer Bank of America, Gary Singh (Licensed Handyman Service) , Dr.Jonathan Kim Dentist, www.Coupons2Grab.com , Laxmi Kamal Jewelers, US Auto Collision & Repair, Shree Jewellers, Lokesh Tax Services, Peacock Restaurant, ATHIDHI Indian Cuisine , Suraj Rastaurant, Andhra Bhavan, Dosa Palace, India Chat cusine, www.parentsvisit.com, www.thedirectclient.com , www.SagarExclusive.com , NEIL SHETH Sr. Home Mortgage Consultant , Rangoli Sweets and also to media helpers Pravasavani and Virajullu for supporting telangana cultural association.
Srinivas Gujja and Mahipal Reddy Annam announced second San Ramon Bathukamma festival and requested everyone to attend w/o fail. Baleswar Indarapu conveyed vote of thanks audience.
Click here for gallery
