|
DeLIGHTful Deepavali at the Crossroads of America
Greater Indianapolis Telugu Association (GITA) celebrated the beloved festival of lights, Deepavali, on Saturday, November 17, 2007 with an extraordinary display of enthusiasm and a lively community spirit. More than 460 Telugu people from Indianapolis and neighborhoods came together as a single family for this community celebration on a grand scale. This event goes into the history of GITA as the event with the largest number of participants since its inception more than two and a half decades ago. The grand 'Hall of Champions' of Adam's Mark Hotel glittered with the lights, the glowing sparkles from the mirror works of traditional dresses of children and the beautiful sarees of women. The shining ornaments that adorned the kids and adults and the Deepavali light images from the Trophies handed over to the participants truly brought the sights of Deepavali of Telugu Land close to the participants. Also adding to the grandness of the event, we have two distinguished chief guests who graced the occasion: Dr. John McGoff, Candidate for US Congressman (District 5) and Mr. Ike Randolph, City County Councilman, who represented Indianapolis Mayor-Elect Greg Ballard. Their presence and speeches not only excited the participants but also infused the spirit of Indianapolis and Indiana - "The Crossroads of America!" Dr. McGoff and Mr. Randolph released the New Membership Directory of GITA on this occasion among the cheers from the audience and were thanked by Dr. Ramu Yeleti and Mr. Raju Chinthala for their participation in the celebrations. The program started with the welcome address by Vice President of GITA, Mrs. Manga Rau, who highlighted the spirit of Deepavali and expressed her happiness in seeing so many Telugu people who came for the celebration. Appropriate for the event, it started with devotional songs by Deepthi Reddy, Laxmi Palde and Sai Pinnamaneni immediately followed by an Annamacharya Keethana. The dance that depicted the playing of young Srikrishna with Gopikas then took the center stage - eight little children clad in shiny costumes entertained the audience with their tiny steps and great enthusiasm. Adding to this mesmerizing devotion were two classical and devotional songs by an ensemble of kids. Mr. Raju Chinthala, President of GITA, then delivered his speech where he recounted the progress of GITA during 2006 and 2007 and expressed his sincere thanks to his team, supporters, sponsors and each and every participant for their devotion and hard work for putting GITA on the map of United States and extending its image all the way to our home state in India. The program then continued with 8 different dance items that featured solo, duet or medleys of songs from both Tollywood and Bollywood. Then came what could easily be termed as the mega-production of the event, a 20-minute program that staged 3 of the 10 avatars of Lord Vishnu with 14 children who played 16 different characters with all the props and paraphernalia meticulously put together by Mr. Mahesh Suravarjjala and his team. Looking at the kids in the puranic characters with the make up, wigs and dialogues uttered with their sweet and cute voices was a pleasant and memorable experience. In the next ten minutes, more than half a dozen exciting and groovy dance numbers from latest Tollywood and Bollywood movies rocked the hall with the well choreographed dances by Sandeep, Vasuma, Nikitha, Bharath, Chaitanya and Anunita Nattam. Then came the Megastar Dance medley, "Chirukanuka" with superb dance sequences by Master Raja Reddy, joined in part by Sandeep and Rishi Bolla, that received reverberating response from the audience. All of the participants in the cultural program received beautiful trophies designed in the shape of Deepavali lights. All of the sponsors of the event were also thanked profusely and were presented trophies. The participants then enjoyed delicious Andhra dinner with several items that reminded them of their homes back in Andhra Pradesh. While they were enjoying the dinner, the outgoing committee members of GITA were introduced and recognized by Mr. Raju Chinthala and Dr. Ramu Yeleti followed by the introduction of the incoming President Mr. Dilip Vadlamudi and Vice President /President-elect Mr. Sudheer Thondapu. Mr. Dilip then introduced the members of new GITA committees for the year 2008. Then came the special moment - the presentation of GITA awards to those excelled in the fields of engineering, medicine, entrepreneurship, academics, vehicle and biological research etc., These awards were introduced and presented for the first time in the history of GITA and received extraordinary response from the GITA members, a testament to the great prestige attached to these awards. The proud winners of these awards were: Dr. DHR Sarma, Dr. Sujata Pammi, Dr. Naga Chalasani, Mr. Gopal Reddy, Mr. Mahesh Chengalva, Dr. Veerendra Munugalavadla, Dr. Samantha Backhaus, Mr. Raj Pulikal, Mrs. Lakshmi Varanasi and Master Raja Reddy. All of the winners received standing ovation from the 460+ audience. At that point, to the excitement of the audience, two very special guests who came all the way from India to entertain the participants gave their appearance - they were singing sensation "Hemachandra" and his sister "Himabindu". For nearly two hours they sang top musical numbers from Tollywood and some from Bollywood and made the participants get up and dance. Both of these talented singers created a lively atmosphere and encouraged each and every one in the hall and raked up huge applause from all. The program concluded with the presentation of plaques to Hemachandra and Himabindu and by conveying thanks to all of the participants and office bearers of GITA. Thus the festival of lights in Indianapolis magically turned into a fiesta of delight, cheers and certainly an event to remember in the history of Greater Indianapolis Telugu Association. - Dr. Siva Prasad Kumpatla |
