కన్నుల పండుగగా జరిగిన ‘బాటా’ సంక్రాంతి సంబరాలు

Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA) celebrated Sankranti festival in a grand style by hosting various activities such as cooking (వంటల పోటీలు), Muggulu (రంగవల్లి ముగ్గుల పోటీలు),   Bommala Koluvu, Melodious Paatala Pallaki (పాటల పల్లకి) musical concert, Classical dance ballet, Folk dances, popular on-stage game show and foot tapping dances. Over 1000 guests attended the glittering event, which started at 1:00 pm and went until 10:00 pm.

The auditorium was decorated promoting ethnic and festival look of Sankranti, and the main stage had multicolor backdrops and colorful kites. The decorations coupled with the traditional outfits by the audience, participants & BATA volunteers reflected a festive atmosphere.

The program started with “Paatala Pallki” – Live music concert by talented singers from BATA Karaoke team, audience thoroughly enjoyed melodious super hit songs.

In parallel, cooking competitions for adults (Super Chef), kids (Little Chef), colorful Rangavalli contest, Art contest, Essay writing were organized. Kids got the ingredients from home and prepared a food item of their choice on the spot without any assistance from parents. The kids demonstrated their cooking prowess. Super Chef displayed the cooking talents of men and women.

The finished Rangavalli was a sight to see and brought nostalgic memories of India.  

Students from “Paatasala” Telugu School (Initiative by Telugu Times and BATA to promote and teach Telugu language) presented drama “Satya Harischandra”,  popular stage artist Sri. Ravi Naralasetti written & directed it. San Ramon kids presented “Boorela Mookudu” skit.  It was amazing to watch the little kids motivation and commitment to learn and perform in Telugu language. Paatasala is running successfully in Bay Area with 7 locations & with over 250 students.

The main cultural program started at 5:00pm. Vijaya Aasuri (BATA Advisor) officially kicked off the evening cultural program by inviting all the kids for “BhogiPallu”. The congregation of kids & devotional songs by parents and grandparents made it seem like a big family gathering – “VasudhaikaKutumba”. The elders gave the blessings to all the kids. In addition, there was “Gobbemmalu” dance with all the women dressed in colorful traditional sarees.

Shiva Noopuram classical dance school students (Director – Sindhu Kandi) presented – Dasavataram and Markandeya charitra.

Next to follow were high energy and foot tapping dances by little toddlers and BATA youngsters to the latest super hit songs from Tollywood. BATA team members worked hard in training the little kids in various locations like San Jose, Cupertino, Fremont & San Ramon etc.

Association of Indo American’s (AIA) also celebrated India Republic day. Elected official attended the event and conveyed their wishes.  Consulate General of India Ambassador Sanjay Panda was the chief guest.  Others attending the event include Jayaram Komati, Special Representative to North America, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Raj Salwan (Vice Mayor of Fremont), Stacie Shih (Office of Assembly Member Ash Kalra), Anurag Pal (Office of Assembly member Kansen Chu), Magdalena Carrasco (Vice Mayor of San Jose), Dr. Pradeep Gupta (Ex-Mayor of South San Francisco), Jose Esteves (Ex-Mayor of Milpitas),  Teresa Keng, (Councilmember of Fremont), Michael S. Goldman (Councilmember of Sunnyvale),  Nancy Smith (Councilmember of Sunnyvale), and Raj Chahal (Councilmember of Santa Clara).

The guests enjoyed dances presented by the kids & patriotic songs by BATA karaoke team. They also conveyed Sankranti  & India republic day greetings to all attendees and congratulated AIA  & BATA teams for organizing the festival.

JagaDeka Veerulu Athiloka Sundari (  జగదేక వీరులు ఆథిలోక సుందరి), was next to follow. It was certainly one of the highlights of the evening. It was a fitting tribute to Tollywood / Bollywood star Late. Sridevi.

One of the most popular programs was the On-stage quiz competition with Audio and Video based games show.  It included movies, trivia and many topics that are more entertaining. The participants and the audience thoroughly enjoyed the program.

There was a huge support for this event from the businesses. You Smile dental was “Powered by” sponsor, Grand Sponsor was “PNG Jewelers”, Tax Partner was “Sanjay TaxPro”, Gold Sponsor was “APEX Consulting,  Visitors Insurance partner was “Visitors Guru”.

Other sponsors include Ramana Reddy (Cal Homes), Paatasala, Swagat Indian Cuisine, Sangita Dutta (NY Life), Syed Amhed (Intero), PNJ5.com.  Kosta Curries was the food sponsor.

Media partners – Virijallu Telugu Radio & Telugu Times.

Speaking on the occasion Yaswanth Kudaravalli (President) thanked BATA team members & all the volunteers for their hard work and making the event a grand success.

Yaswanth introduced BATA executive committee consisting of:  Harinath Chikoti (Vice President), Sumanth Pusuluri (Secretary), Kondal Rao (Treasurer) & Arun Reddy (Jt. Secretary)

“Steering Committee” includes, Ravi Thiruveedula, Kamesh Malla, Kalyan Kattamuri & Sirisha Battula.

 “Cultural Directors” includes Sridevi Pasupuleti, Srilu Veligeti and Taraka Deepti.

“Nominated Committee” Prasanth Chinta,Varun Mukka, & Hari Sannidi.

BATA “Advisory Board” Jayaram Komati, Vijaya Aasuri, Veeru Vuppala, Prasad Mangina, Karun Veligeti and Ramesh Konda congratulated the team in making the event a grand success.

BATA team thanked the sponsors for their continued support and recognized them.

Click here for Event Gallery