Greater Indianapolis Telugu Association

Sankranthi Vedukalu in Indianapolis 

Picture Gallery

The Telugu people of Greater Indianapolis Telugu Association (GITA) celebrated Sankranthi on January 27^th with a staunch devotion and religious fervor. Mr. Rajendra Alvandhar started the program by poetically recounting many things that go hand-in-hand with Sankranthi - like muggulu, bhogi mantalu, gangireddu, gaalipataalu that not only educated the kids on our traditions but also brought back childhood memories to all. The cultural program that lasted for nearly two hours had a great start with three devotional songs vibrantly rendered by children Laasya Mamidipalli, Anoop Chintala, Neeharika Palivela, Vaishnavi Meda and Sai Krupali Ambaty.  

Then the audience was treated by two Annamayya kirtanas – “Govidaasrita” by Meena Moorthy and Geetha Keshav and “Govinda Govindayani koluvare” by Sai Pinnamaneni. The dance for a Pelli pata, “Yee desanninchi vaccharayya”, rendered by eight adorable kids clad in traditional wedding dresses, Alekhya Ankaraju, Uma Kocherlakota, Sreya Vemuri, Neeharika Katragadda, Utkarsh Sayini, Raeya Ponugoti, Harsha Vemuri and Abhiram Ankaraju, was an entertaining hit with the crowd. A song on Lord Rama by Harsha Vemuri and Vaibhav Vavilala provided a religious and festive touch to the program. GITA president, Mr. Balaraju Chinthala, then gave a speech on this occasion where he emphasized the role of festivals, traditions and customs in our culture and further stressed on the beautiful Sankranthi moments and memories we all had in our childhood.  

Then came one of the highlights of the evening, the play “Ksheera saagara madhanam”, beautifully presented by Mr. Mahesh Suravarjjala. This mythological tug-of-war episode where ‘devatalu’ and ‘rakshasulu’ churn the ocean of milk, was impeccably portrayed by fourteen kids, Saketh Boyapalli, Srinith Challa, Nishanth Chinnanandi, Abhinay Davarakonda, Anoop Jasti, Harshita Kondeti, Laasya Maamidipalli, Srujan Mupparapu, Sarita Pantula, Divyesh Sunderraj, Ashwin Sunderraj, Shivani Suravarjjala, Shravan Suravarjjala and Akhil Vadlamudi.  

The audience were then treated with dances from three movies by Adarsh Tamma, Vasuma Yarlagadda, Nikitha Lattupally, Heera Vemaganti and Sushuma Yarlagadda. This was followed by “Naarayaneeyam slokas” that were devotionally and lucidly rendered by Srikar Vedala thoroughly impressed the audience. The last two items provided a befitting closure to the event and stole audience’s hearts and minds. The song, “Vacchindoy sankranthi”, by Mrs. Lalitha Ankaraju, Dr. Mantipragada Krishna and Sri Mohan Devaraju, brought forward “Sankranthi jnaapakaalu”. Then, the song and dance by Raja Reddy and Sathvik Madduri for “Maharajarajasri” song from the movie Sutradharulu with the accompanying ‘Gangireddu aata’ by Sandeep Pamireddy and Ravikanth stood as another highlight for the program. The Gangireddu later visited the audience and greeted them. Kids of all ages thoroughly enjoyed this Sankranthi visitor among them.  

On this occasion, Dr. Chandra Reddy Gavva, the new President of American Telugu Association (ATA), spoke of GITA’s contribution to Telugu people in Indiana and then introduced the new office bearers of ATA who hail from Indiana. The program concluded by presenting trophies to sponsors/donors, cultural program participants and by appreciation of GITA committee members.

	Grand Patrons (Dana Karnulu)
	KALAKSHITI(Land of Art) Indian Classical Dance - Bharatanatyam Contact Sunita Yogananda Tel:317-595-0854 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
	Patrons (Poshaka Datalu)
	Pyramid COnsulting, Inc Ph No: (317) 280 9900 www.pyramidinc.com