17 Septemmber 2014
Hyderabad

A one of a kind, exclusive red carpet ladies event took place for the first time in the Bay Area on September 13th 2014. What makes this Bay Area Telugu Association hosted event, ‘Naari’ so special is that it was entirely dedicated to women and organized by women. It was conceived to celebrate women by providing an evening of entertainment and a venue for all the Naaris(attendees) to relax, pamper, enjoy and be themselves in an exclusive, stress free and luxurious environment.

The evening started at 5:30pm in the wonderfully Cozy and pleasant courtyard of Sneha restaurant, in Sunnyvale, CA. A beautiful Canopy decorated the entrance and welcoming the attendees were two pairs of beautifully dressed organizing committee members who actively assisted them to their appropriate tables while a few other young women greeted them with appetizers and colorful mock tails of their choice. As you entered the venue, you could not miss the grandeur filled stage which dazzled to the right with a crystal back drop topped with a beautiful circular bejeweled Naari logo as its centerpiece and the crystal pillars to complete the look of luxury. To the left, under a dazzling canopy were various casino tables, wheel of fortune, and a mysterious fortune teller to tell you if lady luck was on your side. If you asked the ladies that were coming back to the wheel of fortune, you would know that lady luck was definitely present this evening. Straight ahead was another area called the Naari photo booth which featured a beautifully decorated famous Bapu drawing of a young woman with words “Naari” in English and telugu where all the gracefully dressed ladies could get a free picture taken by a female professional photographer. Another corner to the left of the stage was designated as the Naari wall. Here many attendees have brought to display their collage of pictures depicting themselves in various roles of their lives, their interests, dreams and passions. Next to it was also a beautiful dress displayed by spin smile sarees where everyone could guess its value and the closest guess would win the dress. To the left of the entrance was a welcoming hallway decorated with beautiful cloth swags that hosted all the booths featuring top of the line women’s and children clothing and jewelry. These included Spin smile sarees, Nirus boutique, Samudra sarees, Royal fashions, C bazaar and Shree jewellers. This was just the start. Every direction one looked, there was entertainment. The environment was so festive and exciting that there was even a line of ladies waiting to take pictures on the beautiful stage. The committee members had a hard time seating the thoroughly enjoying crowd so the show could begin.

As the show opened for the evening, Young ethereal models clad in wonderfully designed latest Indian clothing gracefully walked down the stage to melodic music displaying the current fashions. Towards the end of the fashion show they royally escorted the star of the evening, prominent actor and anchor Jhansi. The moment she was formally introduced and welcomed by the committee, the mic, the stage and the entire venue were taken over by the unsurpassable energy and wit of this amazing entertainer. She started off by warming up the crowd with her matter of fact demeanor that usually exists between neighbors or old acquaintances. With a humorous twist in each sentence, she started to randomly pick 3-4 table numbers and invited a couple of members from each table on to the stage to play a game. The games varied in kind, starting from collecting the most number of credit cards or having the correct shade of red lipstick on you to partner freeze dancing where one partner dances and the other has to be frozen.

After the first hour, a pair of Brazilian carnival dancers in their amazing colorful feather costumes adorned the stage and performed to beautiful samba music. As they descended, Jhansi appeared on stage in her ‘Kokapeta kanakam’ character wearing brick red saree, dark sunglasses and hair in a bun with her special accent. While in character, she helped pick a few raffle ticket winners. There was a raffle drawn for every half hour of the show. She also ventured from table to table to talk to different individuals and engage them in humorous conversation about their livelihood and how long they have been in the Bay Area. She invited yet another few tables on to the stage for some more games and the winners were rewarded with gift certificates. All of this was done while still in Kokapeta Kanakam character. Another hour passed so easily and a couple of committee members went into the crowd from table to table and asked rapid fire questions about general knowledge such as a name that represents two different meanings. Of course the winners received gifts and yet another couple of raffle prizes were drawn. During this time, the attendees were escorted to the sumptuous food buffet served by Sneha Restaurant. Among all the tasty items, the mouthwatering double ka meetha was a special hit of evening.

As the guests were finishing with dinner, a dazzling Jhansi in her ‘Gunturu Baby Akka’ outfit with a high fashionable hair do, elaborate saree, a large dazzling diamond necklace and earrings appeared on stage with a mission to find a girl in marriage for her son. She again went to individual tables in search of the people from the Guntur region and asked them questions about their jewelery and wealth and if there is a suitable girl here to be her daughter-in-law. Her amazing capability of being candidly witty at every turn while keeping in character, kept people laughing through the night. More tables were called on to the stage and games were conducted, with a background music assistance provided by the committee members throughout the night.

It finally came to that time of the night where awards were to be given for the best participants of the evening. At this time, the organizing committee was introduced by Vijaya Aasuri who was also part of the committee and a driving force for this event. The Naari Organizing Committee included Madhavi Pothireddi(Food), Madhavi Gorrepati(Food), Pratima(Games), Asha Latha Pokala(Games), Swati Malla (Games), Kalyani Chikoti(Decorations), Krishnapriya Mangina (Personalized Gifts), Gayatri Palepu (Registration), Padma Vish(Registration), Sridevi Pasupuleti (Logistics), Srilu Veligeti (Logistics), Deepthi Taraka (Entertainment) and Sireesha Battula(Gifts). Naari event volunteers included Sravanthi Reddy, Amulya, Sravya and Geetanjali. The Naari event committee thanked the current BATA committee members and BATA Advisory Board members for their invisible support that made this event such a great success. More raffles were drawn including the Grand raffle prize of gold earrings given by Sri Krishna Jewelers. Other prizes for raffles included Sarees from Spin Smile, Nirus boutique, Samudra Sarees, Shree Jewelers, PNG jewelers, Gift certificates from Beauology, Free teeth whitening from You Smile Dental, Aagadu premier show movie tickets from Serra Theatres, Power movie tickets from Towne3 Cinemas, Gift certificates from Swagat, Peacock and Vara restaurants. When Jhansigaru arrived back on stage in her own character, she took the initiative to invite all the senior ladies on to the stage for a guided fashion show which the ladies of the generation tremendously enjoyed and some even danced on stage uninhibited. The most elegant lady won yet another prize.

Subsequently, she bestowed the Naari awards - miss congeniality, most active participant, most active table of the night, all round Naari participant, best dressed and the lady dressed closest to Ms. Jhansi herself. All the winning ladies were adorned with silk sashes and buttons. Then she had the fun task of reading through the Naari wall to pick a winner who she felt was traditional yet had an open view of the world. The lucky lady was also awarded a Sash along with the reward of two VIP tickets to Shahrukh Khan’s SLAM Concert.

The sponsors for Naari were duly recognized on the stage. Naari event was powered by Trinethra Super Market. PNG Jewellers was the Platinum Sponsor. Lavanya Duvvi, You Smile Dental, Shree Jewellers & CBazaar were the Gold Sponsors. Sneha restaurant was the Food Sponsor. DESI1170AM, Virijallu, TV5, TV9, INDTV were the media partners for the event. Maryam Hadi took some great captures from the event which will be published soon on BATA website (http://www.bata.org).

If you thought the audience was tired by now, you could not be more wrong. Ninety percent of the ladies were still glued to their chairs. At this time, Jhansi thanked the crowd for being so wonderfully active and warm compared to her last show and said she couldn’t wait to come back for more. She went to each table for pictures while a Persian dancer entered from the crowd on to the stage and performed to beautiful Persian music. The dance floor was cleared and the talented dancer started engaging members of the crowd and teaching dance moves. In the next ten minutes, Gungun took over as the DJ of the night and played super hit Bollywood / Tollywood numbers and the lights dimmed for the dancing to continue. Many guests stayed till 1:30am thoroughly enjoying their night. As they left, the guests were excited to take their special handmade gift which included a beautifully wrapped white candle with a custom ‘Naari’ mehandi design and an equally beautiful handmade thank you note attached to it. Most ladies were elated at the action packed event and the amount of gifts that were disbursed. They just could not wait to come back to the next Naari red carpet event.

With such an unprecedented & overwhelming response, Naari 2015 preparations have already begun!