April 26, 2014: The Chicago Telugu Association (CTA) and North America Telugu Society (NATS) together on a grand scale have celebrated Sri Jaya nama Ugadi & SriRamaNavami-2014 in Chicago from 4:00pm to 9:00pm on Saturday April 19th, 2014 at cultural auditorium in Hindu temple of Greater Chicago, Lemont. The event was conducted by CTA Mahila cultural team led by Sujana Achanta.

The celebration was conducted to preserve and promote the Telugu cultural heritage and traditions among the Telugu speaking people residing in Chicago. The weather was great after a long winter in Chicago and lot of Telugu families attended the event; well greeted and welcomed by the CTA Mahila registration team led by Rama Koppaka, Rani Vege, Lohitha Tunuguntala and Bhavani Karampudi. Venue was beautifully decorated by Bindu Balineni, Sailaja Pulavarthi and Ramesh Maryala.

The auditorium was filled with festive atmosphere with over 800 people attending the event. The event started off with Pahi Pahi Gajanana by Bharata Bharati Music school. CTA Mahila cultural team lead Sujana Achanta welcomed and wished everyone Jaya nama Ugadi and Sri Rama Navami and hoped that the new year will bring happiness and prosperity to all the families. She mentioned that around 150(Adults/kids) worked tirelessly for the last 5 weeks to perform at the event. She also mentioned that CTA as an organization focuses on serving the Telugu community and requested the community to provide feedback in order to serve and propagate Telugu culture.

The evening was filled with various classical performances, classical songs and latest dhamaka songs along with colorful mix of folk songs. Telugu Elocution on Ugadi/Sri Rama Navami performed by group of kids speaking in Telugu was well received by the audience. The highlight of the evening was Ramayanam skit coordinated by Lakshmi Bojja and done by group of 12 kids dressed in various colorful costumes mesmerized the audience and the hall reverberated with applause. Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyanam dances performed by the students of Shobha Tammana , Dr Uma Kallakuri,Vidya Pandikara and Preetha Ganeshan enthralled the audience and received great applauses from the audience. Classical songs sung by the students of Valli and Asha rao got good response from the audience. Painting competition was conducted by Shashank Vege and Rama Koppaka and kids have come up with wonderful paintings. Fashion show at the end by the kids and women added great beauty to the evening. Overall there was a great variety of programs conducted throughout the evening. The program was anchored by Sahini, Girinandini, Geeth, Shreya, Sanjana and Anikait.

CTA President Srinivas Boppana praised the CTA Mahila team for conducting an outstanding event and thanked the Telugu families for making the event successful. He thanked the Hindu temple management Bhima Reddy & Sirisha Akula for providing the temple auditorium for the event. He welcomed all the families to the CTA-NATS annual Telugu Festival 2014 that will be held in June. He thanked all the volunteers, participants and parents who encouraged the kids to participate in the event. He presented the trophies to the Painting competition winners and felicitated the classical dance teachers on behalf of CTA. NATS Chairman of the Board Dr. Madhu Korrapati and NATS President Gangadhar Desu congratulated CTA and NATS team for conducting such a wonderful event.

Authentic food was served to attendees by food committee members including Varaprasad Bodapati, Nagendra Vege, Vijay Venigalla, Laxman Kolli, Niranjan Vallabhaneni, Vamsi Manne, Ramagopal Koganti, Sailender Sunkara, Manohar Pamulapati, Anil Kodidini, Harshavardhan Reddy Munagala, Murali Koganti, Srinivas Kotla, Krishna Muvva and Murali Kalagara. Food was sponsored by Cool Mirchi restaurant.

CTA Vice President Murthy Koppaka presented the vote of thanks to all members, attendees and sponsors for their support and participation. He thanked the entire team of CTA Mahila – Sujana Achanta, Lakshmi Bojja, Rani Vege, Rama Koppaka, Havilah Maddela, Bhavani Karampudi, Lohitha Tunuguntla, Sailja Pulavarthi, Sandhya Ambati, Karishma Pilla, Kalyani Kopganti and Bindu Balineni for organizing a wonderful event. He thanked SwadesMedia USA for capturing and providing video coverage for the event.

CTA thanked Ramesh Maryala, Subba Rao Putrevu, Harshavardhan Reddy Munagala, Sridhar Mumgandi, Rao Achanta, Ravi Achanta, Dr Paul Devarapalli, Phalalochana Rao Vankayalapati, Ram Tunuguntla, Madan Pamulapati, Manahor Pamulapati, Aravind Koganti, Srikanth Bojja, RK Balineni and Venu Krishnadurdula for supporting the CTA Mahila team in successfully conducting the event