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T.A.T.A celebrates 01st Bathukamma festival in NJ

By:  Tupaki Desk   |   17 Oct 2015 3:47 AM GMT
T.A.T.A celebrates 01st Bathukamma festival in NJ
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Telangana American Telugu Association (T.A.T.A) celebrated it's very first Bathukamma at Johnson Park in Piscataway Township In NJ on October 11th 2015.

The park was very well decorated with flowers and garlands for the event. The picturesque background of the surrounding trees with fall colors and the back drop of Raritan river coupled with picture perfect weather looked stunning.

The festivities started around 12 PM when Men, Women and children started coming in with colorful dresses and Bathukammas.

The backdrop of the park, the colorful dresses and very well crafted colorful Bathukammas made the atmosphere even more joyful. Then people really started to pour in and take pictures with their favorite Bathukammas that were on display,

Lunch was totally prepared by the volunteers of the organization and just when people were finishing their delicious homemade meals, started the sports activities.

Not everyone were lucky to get in the first round of women's musical chair competition because of the overwhelming number of people. The sound of the music, the women with colorful dresses, Bathukammas in the backdrop, the delicious homemade food and men socializing with others looked very much like a celebration back home, everyone felt like they were celebrating in their respective native villages in Telangana.

Kids musical chairs were followed by women's, all the kids had a lot of fun playing and dancing to the favorite tunes of music. After the conclusion of the musical chairs, all the Bathukammas were brought to the middle of the park to an open area and all the women formed a circle, Bathukamma songs were played and women started clapping their hands and move in circle singing "Bathukamma , Bathukamma Vuyyalo.." the crowd was so large, at one point there could easily be 250 women singing and clapping in one circle.

Bathukamma is one of the most beautiful festivals which bring women from all sections of society irrespective of their class and caste and it is socially the most unifying festival.

After the singing and dancing around Bathukammas, it was time for the prize distribution ceremony. There were about 20-25 Bathukammas and some were very large. Prizes were given away for the top 3 Bathukammas, organizers had a hard time selecting the best because all of them had their unique element of charm in them.

After the prize distribution ceremony, women started to play kolktam for about 30 mins. This was a big hit among the young women and kids who were really energetic singing and dancing to various tunes around the Bathukammas. At one point we had to form an outer circle and inner circle as there were so many participants.

Most women irrespective of their age participated in all the activities that were held. Finally the time has arrived to bid farewell to their Bathukammas. Around 5:30 PM women performed Puja to bid farewell to the Bathukammas. All the Bathukammas were carefully carried to the banks of the Raritan river which is just a stroke away from where the festivities were going on.

The procession to the river looked like a big mela. All the volunteers got in to the river and carefully passed on all the Bathukammas to be placed into the river. The river was so beautiful to see with so many colorful Bathukammas floating and moving away. After this, men and women greeted each other wishing the best for each and everyone.

T.A.T.A Advisory Council Member Mohan Patalolla , BODs Ramesh Chandra, Ram Reddy Malladi, Santhosh Pathuri, Mahender Musuku thanked all the organizers, volunteers and especially the people who participated in the event to make it a grand success.

This event was led by RVP Dhanraj Seri and Bindu Madiraju SC Chair with the help from Srinivas Pathuri RC, Vijay Vaidyula RC, Venkat Mukkamala SC Chair, Sudhir Miryala SC Chair, Prashanth Chintwar RC, Prashanth Vemuganti SC Chair, Basavaraj Tamally SC Co-Chair, Chandra RC, Sindhu Yalala Youth Chair, Gangadhar Vuppala, Shyam Bhonagiri, Srinivas Dhulipala, Santhosh and Ashwin who worked hard tirelessly towards the event.

The event would not have been possible without the help from Bindu Madiraju, Jyothi Malladi, Raja Lakshmi Pathuri, Saritha Uppala, Keerthi Siddi Reddy, Sudha Avunoori, Amitha Narahari, Parnini Reddy, Neelima Bhonagiri, Nishitha Venkannagari, Sindhu Yalala, Anitha Vaidyula, Saritha Uppala, Suneetha Kambhaladinne, Harshitha Yenugula and several others who worked tirelessly to make it a big success.

Also present were the RVP's from NY Ranjit Kyatham, Ashok Chintakunta and RVP from Philadelphia Suresh Reddy.

T.A.T.A thanks Tupaki for covering the event.

Please click here for Pictures: https://goo.gl/photos/Jbhzr2qyCyJjnBpX6


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