The Dasara-2009 celebrations, organized by Telugu Association of Bloomington-Normal (TABN), Illinois at ISU -Capen auditorium, drew an overwhelming support from the local Telugu community. The event witnessed passionate display of enthusiastic music lovers and generous participants eager to contribute for a cause.
TABN dedicated this event to AP flood relief. A relief fund was raised by TABN to the tune of Rs. 6.0 Lakhs (approximately $13,000) towards donations, to aid the victims affected by this calamity back home. Our members and benevolent Telugu community was quick to respond that contributed generously.
TABN is working with charity organizations “SPANDANA FOUNDATION” and “SEWA INTERNATIONAL” to help reach out to the victims in Kurnool, Mahaboob Nagar, Krishna, Guntur, Nalgonda and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh.
A warm evening “Musical Moments of Suneeta” was led by Singer Sunitha and her team. Popular Tollywood director V. N. Aditya composed this event in a cinematic way to present to the audience. The team included an upcoming singer Srikrishna, of IDEA Super Singer fame and an orchestra team comprising Phanindra, Swamy, Paul Raj, Chinna, Praveen, and Dr. Murthy from Padmashree SP Balasubramanyam troupe. Tollywood comedians Venu and Venki added a touch of humor to this show.
Our Master of Ceremonies Raghu Paturi opened this show followed by Pooja by Chandra Sekhar Prakhya. A visiting parent Sri Rama Satyanarayana delivered a keynote emphasizing the importance of Telugu Literature and Culture. He encouraged the audience and requested contributions towards flood relief by quoting an example from the boat incident in Diveseema.
Singer Sunitha started the main program jointly with Srikrishna. Sunitha rendered more than 3000 movie songs in Telugu and other southern languages to date, and is a recipient of Nandi award. The twosome presented many songs that nostalgic evening – drawing from the classing old to trendy new movies.
Our zealous and younger kids in the community displayed participant spirit by dancing to the rendition. Venu and Venki added their flair of humor and entertained the audience.
Ajay Kalavala has announced the donations received from the community and commended the donors for their charity. He also explained the importance of supporting back home during such calamities.
Spanadana Foundation and Telugu Association of Bloomington-Normal has organized a pre-event “Padyala Thoranam” (Telugu Poetry) competitions and organized certificates to the winners from “Telugu Adhikara Bhashaa Sangham”. Rama Kattunga, Srinivas Mikkilineni, Murali Sunkara, Jagadeesh Gutha and Goverdhan Galpalli has distributed the certificates to respective winners through Lata Rao, Lakshmi Duvvuri and Amar Brahmandam.
Suresh Krishna announced Diwali Food drive program initiated by SEWA International to distribute to local charity organizations.
Vani Prasad has announced the Local Hindu Temple initiative and impressed upon the audience on construction needs -requesting donors to come forward.
The musical program concluded with a Medley of classical songs rendered by Srikrishna and Singer Sunitha – and entertained our audience. The program ended with a felicitation program presenting mementos to singer Sunitha and team by Mandava Venkateswara Rao, Rao Duvvuri, Sridhar Kantamaneni, Ramakrishna Srikakula, Sumanth Yellanki and Venu Danda.
Shyam Amaravadi closed the program thanking our supportive participants, volunteers and donors. Spice Express pleased the audience with delicious dining and snack served during the event.
Many enthusiastic volunteers from TABN -Appana Pediredla, Hari Rebba, Jayaram Tummala, Murali Adala, Ramana Chengi, Ramesh Chilla, Ravisankar Kavutarapu, Sarad Rao, Srinivas Dodda, Srinivas Garapati, Srinivas Magapu, Srinivas Poondru, Vasu Muppuru, Venkat Nomula, Vish Deeduvanu, Jaypal Pakanati, Kishore Sunkara, Nagendra Garlanka, Pool Singh Bhookya, Rajendra Parasa, Raju Dandu, Sashi Vattikuti, Siva Bandi, Srinivas Lagadapati, Srinivas Avatapalli, Upendra Methuku, Venkat Reddy Julakanti, Venkata Vegesna, Venu Maddineni, and Vithal Ramesh played a major role in making this event successful.
