American Telugu Association (ATA) and Telangana American Telugu Association (TATA) have scripted an unprecedented story and executed the story flawlessly, with needle precision.
Little less than two years ago, Mr Hanmanth Reddy and Dr. Pailla Malla Reddy, the stalwarts of ATA and TATA, respectively, have announced their intention to conduct a joint Convention.
Just over a week ago, the North American Telugu Community has indeed witnessed the unimaginable.
The two organizations, American Telugu Association (ATA) and Telangana American Telugu Association (TATA) have walked on the path of realizing the Unified Telugu Convention in Dallas, TX at Irving Convention Center from May 31 – June 2nd.
The founders of ATA and TATA Mr.Hanmanth Reddy (ATA) and Dr. Pailla Malla Reddy and Dr. VijayPal Reddy along with their Presidents, their teams of Board Members and Executive Committees have showed unshaken resolve to make the unified Telugu Convention a reality.
The Convention that was conducted from May 31-June 2nd is very different from the Traditional Conventions of the past. It is a concurrence of popular opinion of the Telugu Community and the idea of the leadership of the two organizations for a joint Convention.
It defined a new path and opened new possibilities. The Joint Convention that was successfully concluded, has demonstrated beyond doubt, if there is a resolve for friendship and Unity, all other hurdles can be surpassed.
For any triumph, there are bound to be hurdles. The hurdles only test the commitment and strength of character. The team of ATA and TAT have only shown that character and the result is glorifying.
The convention started with a grand Banquet and all the who and who of Telugu Community have attended the grand curtain raiser event of the 3 day convention.
Dr Raj Kumar Reddy, who has been the arm of Social Service projects in India was felicitated for his services in health care in the rural areas of the two Telugu States of Telangana and AndhraPradesh.
Shreya Saran, who has been the guest of honor for the Banquet has gracefully entertained the audience with a dance number, heeding to a roaring request from the audience.
About 2000 people attended the banquet dinner and set the tone for the following 2 days.
The Day 2 started with a grand Poorna Kumbham procession with a beautiful dance bv the local youth, followed by the high stakes Inaugural song performance.
The song was written by JonnaVittual Rama Lingeshwar Rao, composed by Vandemataram Srinivas and presented by Dr Sudha Kalavaguntla.
The performance by 125 performers, articulating the rich Telugu culture and heritage can easily be termed as the best program of the event, and rightly the opening program for the Convention.
The next two day were filled with activities by Sahitya Academy attended by Brahma shree VaddiParthi Padmakar, Dr. JonnaVittula RamaLingeshwar Rao and Women’s Forum , Business Forum, Panel Discussions, Political Forum and Celebration of Legacy of Late. Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy.
Shreya Saran has continued to make her presence felt on the prime time of the day 2, with witty connversations with Anchor Suma Kaikala who has conducted the event with her signature style.
Dr. YarlaGadda Laxmi Prasad was felicitated with life time achievement award. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Yarlagadda has called upon the community to serve their adopted mother land, the USA, with wide applauds from the audience.
Mr Somi Reddy Chandra Mohan Reddy, AP Minster for Agriculture, who has attended the event as the chief guest, has commended the two organizations for conducting the joint convention and has lauded the contribution of the Telugus in all walks of life in the United States.
Mrs Padmavathi Reddy who has attended the Convention as the guest of honor, has called upon the Telugu NIRS to give inputs and ideas for the better governance in India.
Day 3 was started with Lord Srinivasa Kalyanam. The Lord’s Kalyanam was conducted with priests from Jiyar Educational Trust. About 1000 devotees attended the early morning wedding ceremony of Lord Venkatesha.
On the evening of Day 3, Actress Trisha was the star attraction and has interacted with her fans and performed on stage responding to requests from the audience to dance to one of her songs.
In a sign of the positive effects of the success of the joint convention by ATA and TATA, Dr. Prem Sagar Reddy, a long time friend of Mr Hanmanth Reddy and Dr Pailla Malla Reddy, has hinted that there may be a Joint Convention between ATA,NATA and TATA. The announcement was received with cheers from the 5000 audience sitting in the packed auditorium.
The public acceptance and support of the joint convention was evident, when the Convention center management had to turn down entry for over 2000 people, as the auditorium with capacity of 5,000 was packed to its capacity.
Asked about the secret of their success in conducting the event in just 6 weeks, the Joint Executive Committee, comprising of Karunakar AsiReddy, Dr. Haranth Policherla, Ajay Reddy, Vikram Janagam, Raghuveer Bandaru, Arvind Muppidi, Bharath Madadi, Satish Reddy, Jyothi Reddy, Kiran Reddy Pasham, Mahesh Adibhatla, Mohan Patlolla, Dheeraj Akula and Srinivas Anugu responsible for the execution of the event, said, more than 36 committees and 400 volunteers have worked around the clock to make the event successful. They said, that, the teams worked seamlessly, helping each other above and beyond their defined roles.
The Joint Advisory Council, led by Mr. Hanmanth Reddy, Mr. Pailla Malla Reddy, Dr. Vijayapal Reddy, Dr. Haranath Policherla, Dr. Sandhya Gavva and Mr. Srinivas Pinnapu Reddy have conveyed their gratitude for the donors for their generosity and the local and non local Telugu Community for their support for the historic effort of a joint convention.
The American Telugu Convention team has expressed their sincere appreciation for the media insitutions for their support in spreading the message and rallying the support of the Telugu Community across the world for the bold exercise.
The success of the American Telugu Convention has given a new hope for many more joint conventions and the Telugu Community will gladly welcome it.
