On Aug 15th, 2010, India’s Independence Day celebrations were held at the Ravindra Bharathi auditorium in Hyderabad, India by the Department of Culture, Govt of Andhra Pradesh. Prominent Kuchipudi dancer from Southern California, Smt. Sumathi Kaushal was felicitated in the event. Her students Monica Rani, Pallavi Bugga, Cynthia Kumar and Natasha Anand enthralled the audience with their recital of the Kuchipudi dance. Popular movie star Victory Venkatesh was the chief guest of the evening.

On Aug 18th, Monica Rani and Pallavi Bugga performed in Tirupati on the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) channel program called “Naada Neerajanam”. Monica and Pallavi performed for about 90 minutes and the whole program was telecast live all over India through the TTD TV Channel Sri Venkateswara Bhakti Channel (SVBC). Monica’s parents Prasad Rani and Subhadra Rani expressed their sincere thanks to Guru Smt. Sumathi Kaushal and to Sri Ramana Rao, Chairman of the Department of Culture, Govt of Andhra Pradesh for giving the children such a large canvas to present their talent.