Telugu Association of Greater Chicago celebrated Ugadi festival in a grand cultural display on March 27th, 2010 at The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, Lemont, IL. The programs were performed by Greater Chicago artists from all age groups. Dressed in vibrant and colorful costumes about 160+ local participants performed with a zeal that filled the auditorium with festivity and enthralled the audience of about 1500 people.

Bumper Offer Music Director & popular singer Raghu Kunche who has sang about 300 + songs was the star attraction for the function. Raghu was also joined by Singer Madhu who currently lives in New Jersey. Raghu Kunche’s Enduke Ramanamma song from the movie Bumper offer which was enacted by the local youth and Mysamma song were received extremely well by the audience. Later in the evening, Raghu and Madhu were joined by kids and adults on the stage bringing the rest of the folks in the audience to a standing ovation. The evening began with an authentic “Vindu Bhojanam”, served along with the traditional Ugadi Pachadi by Vishnu Vilas followed by cultural programs. Pradeep Kandimalla and other food committee members assisted by several volunteers have ensured that all the guests had a delicious feast. TAGC distributed a free colorful calendar put together by Srinivas Pedamallu for all the members who attended the function.

The cultural programs began with TAGC cultural coordinator Ramesh Garapaty introducing the masters of ceremonies Kiran Abbaraju and Malathi Damaraju who were later assisted by youth anchors Prudvhi Nettem, Vahini Ummalaneni & Sandeep Bharadwaj. The masters of ceremonies did a fantastic job entertaining the audience throughout the evening until mid night. President Amarendra Nettem under whose leadership the evening has progressed has welcomed the guests and audience and has conveyed his good wishes to the Chicago telugu community on the occasion of Ugadi and Sri Rama Navami.

The cultural show began with the Annamarcharya keethana Srimannarayana resented by students of Saraswathi Ranganathan. Panchanga Sravanam is an important part of Ugadi and TAGC cultural committee ensured their members received first hand readings on how the year ahead will be. Panchanga Sravanam was rendered by the priest from Rama Temple. Sita rama kalyanam a beautiful dance from the movie Lavakusha enacted by the students of Prasuna Vootkur really enthralled the audience. Lopa Benerjee did a terrific job in choreographing two dances with kids from ages 4-6 year olds. The enacted song from the movie Chandramukhi was one of the other highlights of the performances by the teens in the evening.

A great mix of classical and medley songs throughout the evening with performances from Raghu Kunche and Madhu kept the hundreds of people who attended the occasion engaged throughout the evening. Cultural committee members Ramesh Garapaty & Mani Tellapragada ensured that it was a smooth sailing despite a huge turnout of participants and a wide list of programs. Nikitha Garapaty & Karishma Kondapalli presented an update on the TAGC Youth activities and has announced prizes for the Essay writing. Prizes were handed over by Sama Rami Reddy who co-sponsored the contest along with TAGC. Raghu Kunche, Singer Madhu and Iftekaar Sheriff a local business community leader were facilitated by President Amarendra Nettem.

HTGC Temple president Bheema Reddy spoke to the audience and informed every one of the upcoming celebrations at the temple. The temple employees V.Satish, Velayutham and Acharya were felicitated by Amarndra Nettem for their contribution and dedication during everyone of the TAGC functions. During 2010 Ugadi TAGC has introduced Ugadi Puraskaralu to recognize notable members of Telugu community. Ramana Murthy Yedavalli who is a well known personality in the Chicago Telugu community was chosen as the first ever recipient of this award and was felicitated by President Amarendra Nettem,Sama Rami Reddy and other Board of Directors for his contribution to TAGC & Telugu Development Foundation. President Amarendra Nettem mentioned that TAGC plans to continue this tradition for every Ugadi.

Later in the evening TAGC also recognized the efforts of Sundari Jampana and Kranthi Lakkoju for doing an excellent job in decorating the stage which helped bring in a very festive and traditional ugadi atmospehere. Late in the evening all the guests were provided with fruits sponsored by Michaels fresh market. The programs ended with KSN Reddy, General Secretary TAGC, extending a sincere thanks to everyone including several youth volunteers & board of directors Murthy Pisipati, Mani tellapragada, Kalyan Anandgula, Anji Reddy Kandimalla, Pradeep Kandimalla, Jyothi Chintalapani, Bhanu Swargam, Kasireddy Srinivas Reddy, Gangadhar Desai and several of the sponsors who have helped make this program a grand success.