30 July 2013
Hyderabad

Bay Area Telugu Association (BATA) celebrated its annual Summer Picnic (Vanabhojanalu) on July 28th, 2013 at Lake Elizabeth Central Park in Fremont, California. More than 300 adults and kids attended the picnic. The weather was perfect with glorious summer breeze and made it a pleasant day for all guests. The picnic brought a Telugu festive look to the park with kids and parents dressing up in traditional Indian dresses. It was more like a family get-together, with everyone pitching in for various activities from food/snack preparation to organizing games.

The BATA team came early morning to make all the preparations and the guests started coming around 11:00 AM. Traditional spicy Maramaralu (Muntha Kindha Pappu), Barbeque, Mokka Jonna Kankulu (corn) were served as appetizers. Several guests were seen around the BBQ grill casually chatting on different topics ranging from politics, movies & current affairs and catching up with their friends.  The guests enjoyed the mouthwatering lunch served by BATA volunteers. Lunch included Telugu Vaari favourites like  “Gutti Vankaya”, “Veggie Palav”, “Kurma”, “Tomato Pappu”, “Chakra Pongali” and “Gadda Perugu (Curd)”.

To kick start the picnic Mrs. Vijaya Aasuri (BATA Advisor) welcomed all the guests. Jayaram Komati (TANA Ex President/ BATA Advisor) and various other community leaders attended the event. After delicious lunch, the guests took part in various games and fun filled activities. Adults and kids enthusiastically participated in Volleyball, Cricket, Three-legged race, Tug-of-war, Water Balloons, Pop the Balloons and Musical Chairs etc. Tug-of-War between men & women was the highlight event and brought huge excitement.  The crowd cheered both the teams. Kids also thoroughly enjoyed playing in the colorful jump house throughout the day and they also enjoyed various games conducted for them.  “Tambola” was another fun filled event and all the audience took part with lot of interest as there were very attractive prizes.

Towards the end of picnic, winners from each of the activities were presented with prizes.

Tireless efforts by all BATA volunteers were praised by all guests with a big round of applause. Speaking on this occasion, Kamesh Malla (BATA President) thanked all the guests for coming to the picnic and supporting BATA. He also gave an overview of all the activities/programs BATA is involved during this year.  Kamesh then introduced BATA executive committee consisting  of Kalyan Kattamuri (Vice President), Sirisha Battula (Secretary), Yaswant Kudaravalli (Treasurer), Sumanth Pusuluri (Joint Secretary), Vijaya Aasuri, Veeru Vuppala, Sridevi Pasupuleti, Srilu Veligeti, Kiran Vinnakota & Taraka Deepti.

Kamesh also thanked BATA members Ravi Thiruveedula, Prasad Mangina, Karun Veligeti,Yugandhar Reddy, Ramesh Konda  Hari Chikoti, Shiva, Srikar, Deepthi, Jhansi, Krishna Priya, Swathi, Madhavi, Kalyani, Anantha Lakshmi, Kalyani, Shravanti, Jyostna, Sirisha, Ratna, Naresh, Keshav, Srinivas, Ravindra, Mr & Mrs Murthy Savitala and many others for their help in making the picnic a grand success.