TAFT Celebrated Ugadhi in Tampa, FL

For Indians residing abroad, Saturday’s are for hanging hair down, spend happy times by visiting friends, places, trying out Indian delicacies, listening to music, dancing or just partying. However there are some Super Saturdays, when the entire community comes  together to celebrate Indian festivals and enjoying all the happy activities together under one giant roof, without having to make any choices. These are also great occasions to go back to roots and relive the traditions of the Indian culture.

Saturday April 15th, 2017 was one such occasion  organized by Telugu Association of Florida, (TAF), to celebrate Ugadi festival for the Telugu community in Tampa Bay. Ugadi  is a new year day for Telugu people who follow lunar calendar. Telugu years carry a unique name for each year, which gets recycled every 60years and this new year is called Hevalamba. About 2000 people attended these celebrations, held at Fairgrounds in Tampa. Incidentally, this is the 20th year celebration for TAF too.

On Ugadi day, typically people read the new years almanac called panchangam to know what is stored for each person, nation and world. People also spend time in listening to literary discussions, music, watching dances, skits, dramas, eating a special dish made just for this occasion called Ugadi Pachadi, sumptuous meals, meeting friends and relatives etc among other things. TAF committee did an admirable job in covering all these activities for this year’s Ugadi celebrations.

The celebrations started that day at 2PM with Prayer and American National anthem. It was followed by dances, classical, folk, movie based(Tollywood – named after Telugu Film Industry). Sponsors who donated money generously were felicitated by the President of TAF Neeraja Jasthi during interludes.

There was Panchanga sravanam, that attendees listened, with a sense of anticipation and hope to get an insight to the future, on the eve of this new year.

Telugu Sahithi, annual magazine with contributions from the creative writers and artists of Tampa Bay, was also released on this occasion.

‘Ugadi Pacchadi’ is the traditional Ugadi recipe prepared by the Telugu people. It is a mixture of six tastes – Neem (bitter), Raw Mango (tangy), Tamarind Juice (sour), Green Chilli/Pepper (heat), Jaggery and ripe banana pieces (sweet), pinch of salt, which symbolize life as a blend of different experiences (sorrow, joy, anger, fear, disgust, surprise) and its acceptance. Dinner served that day was more than this pachadi tickling the taste buds all over. Aaku koora pappu(vegetables and lentils) , stuffed green chilies with fried vegetables, raitha to name a few brought distinct touch of native Andhra cuisine. Finishing a great meal with cool meeta pain(spiced betel leaves) transported the Telugu people back to India on fast memory lanes. People also appreciated being served Madatha kaza(folded doughnut like sweet) and Tea as desserts.

The highlight of the program, was a concert of Tollywood movie songs  by popular and young play back singers Hemachandra, Shravana Bhargavi, who flew in all the way from India, with live orchestra of Meher Chanti from Dallas.

Their energetic singing and engaging banter with audience made the listeners break into spontaneous swinging of feet, break into dance and often clap rhythmically following the music. People were dancing near and on the stage right upto 11pm when the concert ended.

Mimicry artist Imitation Raj and talented anchors, who could sing too, Srikanth and Deepthi engaged the audience spellbound during the entire duration of the celebrations.

Being new year TAF also shared its financial and annual report by Treasurer.

It was also time to bid adieu for the Executive committee under President Neeraja Jasthi, consisting……

During their tenure 2015-2017 they did  great job in transforming this association to next level by increasing the resources ten fold and dramatic increased engagement from the community.

New committee for 2017-2019 under the newly elected President Bhanu Prakash Dhulipalla and consisting….was introduced.

TAF added one more feather in it’s cap by organizing a successful event at a location that is often used for hosting huge crowds like the one President Trump had in the recent past.