Ravindra Bharathi is one auditorium which has been witness to thousands of cultural events and stalwarts of the art, film and literature world.
However, it was witness to a rather historic moment recently. Usually, Batukamma is considered limited to Telangana region and people but this time, it seems to have got close to all.
This particular event you are going to read has transcended the borders of the Telugu people and created a harmony of its kind. As such, it was the launch of a book but beneath that had the essence of the occasion.
This was the unveiling of ‘Bathukama Sathakam’ and it is written by the famous Jonnavithula Ramalingeswara Rao. The highlight of the event was the simultaneous release of the book in ten countries.
Web casting was done parallelly and the organizers mentioned “Now the book got launched in America please watch it”, for two minutes the lights were off and the American event was shown. Then, the organizers said “Now Australia” and a similar process was followed. That way, a total of ten countries witnessed the launch of the book within a span of few minutes.
The chief guest for the event was S P Balasubramaniam and Suddala Ashok Teja along with others was one of the invitees. The event got further interesting when Jonnavithula sang few poems from the book and received standing ovation. It got better when S P Balu wrote a poem on Jonnavithula and sang it. Many got enticed by the flow of the songs and it was a heart touching moment for the guests.
The icing on the cake was the speech by Kuchibotla Anand, head of Silicon Andhra. He said “You might think why this web cast and must be wondering this is some Silicon Andhra show off for a Book Launch event. Fact is, when author J K Rowling was launching her Harry Potter book, my children were keen on going so we went at midnight and stood in line in USA. Finally we bought the book and when I started reading, I realized it is not beyond the standards of our Chandamama Kathalu. In fact, our stories are far better. Anyways, in 24 hours 60 lakhs copies got sold and worldwide 60 crore copies got sold later on. Rowling became a billionaire. All this was possible just by marketing.”
He went on to add “We Telugu people should not degrade our history and the abundance of literature and prose. Our children are going far away from Telugu, that’s why Silicon Andhra has taken the initiative to project our language and heritage. It will keep doing this in the future as well and any event will be grand spectacle.”
Jonnaviththula sang a few padyams from his ‘Bathukamma Satakam’ and listening to this, many Telangana folks clapped. Seemandhra audience also shared the claps with them. More than political, it was more about bonding and feeling of culture and tradition. This created a rather congenial atmosphere and overall, it was a wonderful literary event.
SP Balu wrote and sang a ‘kanda padyam’ blessing the poet Jonnaviththula Ramalingeshwara Rao.
Click here to read the complete book online:
http://www.siliconandhra.org/pustakam/
