North American Telugu Association (NATA) sponsored a grand TCA-organized Ugadhi celebrations in Houston. The ‘Sri Nandana Nama’ Ugadhi Vedukalu, a full-day melodious cultural fiesta, was held on Saturday March 24, 2012 at Meenakshi Temple Kalyana Mandapam, Pearland, Texas. This glittering event was attended by over 1000 Telugu people from the Houston and nearby towns Sugarland, Meyerland, Woodlands, Katy, Spring, Pasadena, and College Station.
The festival program consisted of traditional Panchanga shravanam, distribution of “Ugadhi Pachadi” and a delicious Andhra Bhojanam. The cultural program was the star attraction of this year’s Ugadhi Vedukalu organized by the local TCA team. Apart from Indian classic and semi-classical dances, young adults gave mesmerizing popular and upbeat performances in a variety of stage programs. The audience were delighted with traditional songs by local talent, especially small children who showcased their talent of Telugu culture, traditional dress and dance events. The night ended with grand musical performances by emerging Tollywood playback singer and new music director Mr. Partha Sarathi (Parthu) of Padutha-Theeyaga fame. The selected numbers from yesteryear and latest movies truly captured the audience.
NATA was the grand sponsor of this Ugadhi 2012 program. The Houston NATA team led by RVP Manohar Medi and Media chair Dr. Samba Reddy have set up a NATA publicity desk and actively pursued convention registration drive with the help of regional coordinators Raghavender Nadnur, Dr. Rajender Aparasu, Siva Konduri, Durga Prasad, Girish RamiReddy, Sanjeeva Reddy, Dr. Manchi Reddy, and other members. The team also helped the organizers at the stage and serving the food. The Houston team showed NATA brand with a T-shirt and enthusiastic coordination of the program.
President AVN Reddy, Jithender Reddy, Manohar Medi and Samba Reddy and over 20 other convention team members have joined in these celebrations. AVN Reddy, Samba Reddy, Manohar Medi, and Jithender Reddy addressed the participants. The NATA convention team members provided an update on the 1st NATA Convention to be held in Houston from June 29 to July 1, 2012. A brief program outline was explained to the audience by the convention cultural (Ram Cheruvu) and publicity (Sridhar Dadi) teams. Other members who participated include Sai Kumar, Chandrashekar Sreepadam, Uma Medi, Sai Rachakonda, Prasad Kalva, and Raj Rentala.
A video greeting of Andhra Pradesh Dy Chief Minister Sri Damodhara Raja Narasimha, who conveyed Nandana Nama Ugadhi greetings to all American-Telugu families, especially NATA and Houston Telugu community, was the star highlight of the event. The crowd was jubilant with the DyCM’s greeting clip played by the Media chair Samba Reddy. The TCA and NATA teams thanked Manohar Medi for arranging this clip.
Sarada Akunuri and the entire TCA team thanked the NATA for sponsoring the event, and thanked all NATA volunteers and regional coordinators for helping with the program. The team thanked the TCA past-president Raghavender Nednur who worked in both organizing and sponsoring teams.
