08 July 2013
Hyderabad

The 40 year celebrations of the Telugu Association of Greater Delaware Valley (TAGDV) were conducted on June 28th and 29th at the Valley Forge Convention Center, King of Prussia, PA amidst a lot of pomp and gaiety with more than 3500 people in attendance. The mood was ecstatic as the rigorous effort put on the by the Executive Committee, volunteers and community leaders for a month unfolded as a vibrant and vivid display for two days and was nothing short of phenomenal. A Banquet Dinner was conducted on June 28th to honor and felicitate 18 stalwarts from the local community that have made impactful contributions to the society in various fields. There were 600 people from all over the Unites States in attendance. Sri Nandamuri Balakrishna garu was the Chief Guest and Sri CM Ramesh (MP, Rajyasabha) and Sri Modugula Venugopal Reddy (MP, Narasaraopet), Sri Raju Narisetti (Vice President, NewsCorp) and Sri Upendra Chivakula (Deputy Speaker, NJ Assembly) were the guest of honor. Sri Balakrishna honored each recipient as their accomplishments were presented through audio visuals receiving applause from the audience. It was an emotional moment with a standing ovation when Sri Guttikonda Ravindranath garu was invited on to the stage and felicitated for his life-long community service. Sri Nandamuri Balakrishna released the special Souvenir “Telugu Sravanthi” on the occasion of TAGDV 40th Anniversary.

On the 90th Birthday of Dr.Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Golden Line LLC and Basavatarakam Trust introduces a special coin on NTR. Sri Nandamuri Balakrishna released the coin and First coin purchased by Mr. Tagore Guthikonda and 50% of the proceedings will go to Basawatarakam Cancer Hospital Trust.

This was followed by a mellifluous musical concert by Sunitha, Anjana Sowmya and Sreekanth which captivated the audience. Prominent litterateurs Sri Innaiah Narisetti, Sri Vaddepalli Krishna and Sri J. Bapureddy were in attendance along with artists Hamsa Nandini, Deepa Shah, Rajitha, Madhu Mani and Latha Chowdary. Delicious Andhra Vindu Bhojanam served by Dakshin Restaurant (Sateesh Dasari).

The main event on June 29th started with the Inaugural dance “Telugu Vaibhavam” written by Sri Jonnavittula and performed by very talented 100+ local children from dance schools of Guru Indira Dixith & Guru Divya Yeluri & Guru Swathi Gundapuneedi and Guru Sadhana Paranji. It was a glorious sight to watch the 40 minutes non-stop performance and a proud moment for the parents of participants. The 20th North America Cultural competitions were also conducted on the main stage throughout the afternoon upholding the tradition of TAGDV as longtime supporters of dance, drama and stage plays. In the evening Sri Ravi Potluri, President of TAGDV distributed the prizes to the winners of cultural and sports competitions.

Prime time started at 7PM and Sri Anand Kuchibhotla (Founder of Siliconandhra) gave an inspirational speech recollecting old memories of TAGDV in early 90’s and welcomed the President Mr. Ravi Potluri to deliver the speech. Sri Ravi Potluri delivered his message explaining the history and contributions of the elders over the past forty years highlighting the services and contributions of TAGDV to the community. He thanked the Executive Committee and volunteers felicitated all the past presidents of the organization on the stage in recognition of their tireless efforts to strengthen the Telugu Community in the region. After a very well-orchestrated fashion show presented by the Youth Committee Sri Nandamuri Balakrishna was invited on the stage by an excellent medley of his songs performed by the local talent which was one of the highlights of the evening. The dance medley choreographed by Smt. Indira Dixith and Smt. Bindu Madiraju received thunderous applause from the audience. Sri Ravi Potluri and the Executive Committee of TAGDV presented the Life Time Achievement Award to Sri Nandamuri Balakrishna along with the office bearers and representatives of TANA, ATA, NATA and NATS (the four National Telugu Organizations). This TAGDV 40 years celebration will go down in the annals of history as the first time when representatives from all four National organizations attended and supported the event. American Telugu Association (ATA), Grand Sponsor of the event greeted & wished the audience with a video and invited all the audience to their 13th ATA Convention & Youth Conference from July 3rd-5th 2014 will be held at Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA. TAGDV recognized NATA Founder Mr. Pailla Mallareddy with a special recognition award for his community service and philanthropy. TANA President Mohan Nannapaneni attended & congratulated the members of TAGDV on the occasion of 40th Anniversary celebrations. NATS & NATA Executive Committee members wished TAGDV members on the occasion of 40th Anniversary celebrations.

This was followed by the grand finale event of the night, an out of the world musical concert by Sri Manisharma and his troupe – Karunya, Hemachandra, Sravana Bhargavi, Sai Shilpa, Sudhamayee and Pranathi. The choice of songs, the live orchestra and the rendition of the singers coupled with Sri Manisharma actively facilitating on the stage was a feast to the eyes and the ears. The concert enthralled the audience for about 3 hours & went on to till 1AM and was very well received by the satisfied audience. More than 2000+ audience were present at 1AM in the auditorium which showcased the magic of Manisharma.

The TAGDV Executive Committee (President – Ravi Potluri, Vice President Mallikarjuna Budhavarapu, Secretary Harinath Bungatavula, Joint Secretary Suresh Reddy Venkannagari, Treasurer Sambaiah Kotapati, Joint Treasurer Vijay Bhaskar Polamreddy and Members At Large Saritha Anumula, Anupama Donthineni, Sreedhar Gudala, Kiran Kothapalli, Vijayasri Parchuri, Bhaskar Sarikonda, Tulasi Ramamohan Rao Talluri, Narayan Reddy Muddasani, Bobby Yerra) would like to thank the local community for its support, Telugu organizations- TFAS, TLCA, HTA & GWTCS and the sponsors for their gracious contributions and the vendors for their support and the volunteers for their service and the media, Sri Sreedhar Chillara, CS Rao and Latha Chowdary (TV5),Gokul Krishna (ETV), Sri Ramesh Annamreddy, Pratyusha, Srinivas Mutyala (TV9) and Muralidhar Singu (10TV) & Eshwar Banda and Hari Vemula for their video coverage of the event.