North America Telugu Society (NATS) is a national Telugu association with a mission “Bhashe Ramyam Seve Gamyam”. The objective is to address the needs and concerns that affect the everyday lives of Telugu people living in North America. NATS is 24/7 available via the 1-888-4-TELUGU hotline, a one of its kind service serving any kind of medical, financial or traumatic situation. NATS is fully supported by service oriented Telugu members from across the country who works together without any conflict of interest. NATS recently completed its most successful Sambaralu in Dallas TX. They are gearing up for Sambaralu 2015 to be held from July 2nd to 4th at LA Convention center, California.

Another key feature of NATS is that it’s the only Telugu organization that organizes a program exclusively for kids. NATS recently conducted its 3rd annual Balala Sambaralu in Dallas, TX.  NATS organizes this event across various cities in US in commemoration of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday, also known as Children’s day, which falls in November 14th. In Dallas, the event was held on Nov 24th with the focus on showcasing kids talents in Classical singing, Non-Classical singing, Classical Dance, non-Classical dance, Chess and Telugu Vocabulary.   Despite harsh weather conditions, approx 150 kids competed with great passion and excitement. For the first time, Balala Sambaralu was exclusively conducted by High School Children Manogna Nuthi, Priyanka Potturi, Kovida Koneru and Sanjuktha Pendyala under the guidance of Sirisha Voootla.  After rigorous preliminaries in each category, the finalists competed live on stage amongst the entire audience.  A key highlight of the finale was a skit that emphasized the importance of Children’s day.  Approximately 10 kids of various age groups composed and choreographed the skit. All the attendees got to enroll in raffle contest comprising of amazon gift cards, Itunes gift cards and may more goodies. The event was supported by various NATS coordinators under the exemplary guidance of Bapaiah Nuthi, Srinivas Koneru and Vijay Velamuri.  Some of the folks who helped coordinate each competition were Srinivas Kavuri, Sreelu Mandiga, Rajendra Madala, Venkat Kodali, Srinadh Jandhyala, Krishna Vallapareddy, Chaitanya Kancherla, Purna Yelavarty, Purna Purugula, Sridhar Kodela, Raghu Borra, Bharadwaj, Veena Yelamanchili, Jaya Kalyani and Aparna Velamuri.  The Media support for event was Desi Plaza, Yuva Media, TV9, and TV5.  Key sponsors were Frisco Bawarchi, Soft schools.com and Sarigama.

Following are winners of the Balala Sambarlu competitions. NATS presented them with trophies and certificates.
 
1. Classical Singing
Geethalu – Aneesha Kandikonda, Sriya Devulapalli, Sai Harshini Akarapu
Varnalu – Veda Velamuri, Laasya Achanta, Poojitha Kommera
Keerthanalu – Sreeragini Ghantasala, Sobhita Posiraju, Sriya Vaskarla

2. Classical Dance
Juniors – Aneeka Guda, Sriya Nallala, Sai Hiranya Akarapu
Seniors – Sreeragini Ghantasala, Sanjana Pinapala, Samhita Bandaru

3. Non Classical Singing
Pragna Brahmadevara, Kirti Chamkura, Sreya Kodela

4. Non Classical Dance
Juniors – Revanth Kaja, Manasvi Pabbati, Dinah Thadikonda
Seniors – Aneesha Kandikonda, Srutti Potturi, Sanjana Pinapala

5. Telugu Vocabulary
Juniors – Himaja Tummuru, Sriya Devulapalli, Saketh Sadhanala
Seniors – Tejasvini Tummuru, Pranav Kasturi, Veda Velamuri

6. Chess U600
Juniors - Smaran Voora, Vimudha Gogada, Dhruv Kamtam
Seniors - Arya Gowder, Alekh Mulpuri, Akul Gowder

7. Chess U1000
 Urvi Vallapareddy, Ethan Hartfield, Anvita Kotha

8. Chess Open
Ganesh Kummarappan, Aadarsh Srivatsav, Siddharth Sajja