BATA Sankranti Celebrations grand success

Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA) celebrated Sankrantifestival in a grand style by hosting various activities such as cooking (వంటలపోటీలు), Muggulu (రంగవల్లి ముగ్గులపోటీలు), Bommala Koluvu, Melodious Paatala Pallaki (పాటలపల్లకి) musical concert, Classical dance ballet, Folk dances, popularon-stage game showandfoot tapping dances.Special Sankranti Vindhu Bhojanam (dinner with 36+ sumptuous items). Over 1000 guests attended the glittering event, whichstarted at 11:00 am and went on until 9:00 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 Sankranti Vindhu Bhojanam with over 36 + items-Traditional Telugu sweets, Appetizers, pickles, podi’s, Pulihora, Panasapattu Palav, Curd Rice, Gutti Vankaya, Bendakai Iguru, Mudda Pappu, Dappalam, Vadiyalu and Killi (Paan) + other items were served. The guests enjoyed the sumptuous lunch from Biryani Junction & specially sweets and snacks from both Telugu states. BATA team members personally served all the guests and thanked the community for their supports over 5 + decades.

Association of Indo American’s (AIA) also celebrated India Republic day. Elected officials attended the event and conveyed their wishes. Consul General Dr. Srikar Reddy garu & family and Deputy Consul General Rakesh Adlakha ji  and over 25 elected officials that include Congressman Ro Khanna, Representative from Congressman Sam Liccardo’s office, Assemblymembers Ash Kalra & Alex Lee, Supervisors Otto Lee & Elisa Marquez, Mayors Raj Salwan, Carmen Montano, Larry Klien, Mike Hannon, Sergio Lopez, and Liang Chao, Councilmembers Murali Srinivan, Desrie Campbell, Kathy Kimberlin, Yajing Zhang, Elvelyn Chua, Yang Shao, Raymond Liu, Raj Chahal, Sridhar Verose, William Lam, and School Board members Anu Nakka and Rinu Nair, and several other officials have joined the gathering.

Consul General Dr, Srikar Reddy and all the elected officials addressed the gathering and conveyed their heartfelt wishes to the gathering on the occasion of 76th Republic Day of India.

AIA team thanked India Community Center CO-Founder Talat Hasan, CEO Manoj Goel and other Board Members of ICC.

The guests enjoyed dances presented by the kids, patriotic songs & dance programs. The officialsconveyed Sankranti & India republic day greetings to all attendees and congratulated AIA& BATA teams for organizing the festival.

The evening cultural program started 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

Students from “Paatasala” Telugu School (Initiative by TANAand BATA to promote and teach Telugu language) presentedskits and various other programs.  It was amazing to watch the kids motivated to learn Telugu language. “Paatala Pallki” – Live music concert by talented singers from BATA Karaoke team presented 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. AIA Idol (Singing contest) received a tremendous response. This was conducted by East Bay Karaoke (EBK) & BATA / AIA Karaoke teams.

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. All the most popular dance songs were presented.

There was huge support for this event from businesses.Realtor Nagaraj Anniah was “Powered by” sponsor, Gold Sponsor was “Srini Goli Real Estates”. Other sponsors includeRealtor Shikha Kapoor, Insta Service, PNG Jewelers, MCS Master Class & Mahakal Temple.

Kondal Komaragiri (President) thanked all the BATA volunteers for their hard work and for making the event a grand success.

He introduced the BATA executive committee – Siva Kada, Varun Mukka& Hari Sannidhi.

“Cultural Committee” includes Sridevi Pasupuleti, Srilu Veligeti & Taraka Deepti.

“Logistics Team” includes Sandeep KedariSetty, Suresh Sivapuram & Ravi Pochiraju.

Youth Committee – Sanketh, Uday, Adi&Gowthami.

Art & Design committee – Kalyani ,Krishna Priya, Deepthi & Shravanti

“Steering Committee” consisting of Ravi Thiruveedula, Kamesh Malla, Sirisha Battula, Yashwant Kudaravalli & Sumanth Pusuluri.

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

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