Bathukamma Celebrations in Toronto Canada

BATHUKAMMA CELEBRATIONS- 2009 IN TORONTO, CANADA

Bathukamma festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm and gaiety in Toronto, Canada. It was celebrated on September 19th 2009 at the Meadowvale Conservation Park, Mississauga. Celebrations were organized by the Telangana Development Forum (TDF), Canada chapter, as part of the TDF Bathukamma celebrations in other North American cities. It was an amazing gathering where everyone was pleased to meet and greet more than 400 people.

The event was scheduled from 11 AM - 6PM. By noon good number of people gathered and everyone was overwhelmed to see all the excitement in the faces of ladies and kids coming with beautiful Bathukammas, transporting people into the memory lanes of the Bathukamma celebrations in Telangana villages and towns.

Bathukammas made of a wide variety of brightly hued flowers, some seemingly appearing like gunugu were placed in the middle and women played around the Bathukammas with songs in the rhythm of "Bathukamma Bathukamma Uyyaalo. The warming and easing up took some time, but it's only a few minutes before it picked up speed and the song and plays synchronized. Women and children attired in bright and beautiful traditional costumes, dancing and singing in chorus around the fabulous flower heaps of Bathukammas was a graceful sight to watch. Smt. Sarala Devi, Smt Padma Ganta and Smt Jyothy Maripeda garu played an active role in singing bathukamma songs and showing the traditional ways of playing the bathukamma.

Next, lunch was served and what a great feast it was – with an assortment of traditional and mouth watering dishes including Pulihora, garelu and Purnalu, it was difficult to choose. Everyone literally feasted. Kudos to all the Ladies and the gentlemen who helped them for providing a sumptuous lunch. Special thanks to Vice President Mahesh Madadi for organizing the food arrangements for all the participants.

After lunch TDF President, Surender Peddi and Secretary Chandra Swargam welcoming all the participants, gave a brief note on Telangana Development Forum activities and the context in which Bathukamma is celebrated. Surender Peddi introduced new Executive Committee for 2010. The introductions were interspersed with witty remarks leading to bursts of laughter. He conveyed that "Bathukamma is the traditional festival of Telangana which is the cultural identity of Telangana people and everyone should feel proud to celebrate irrespective of where they are living"

Best Bathukamma prizes were awarded by Dipika Damerla to Rajini Madadi, Vijaya Chittaluri, Prasanna Gujjula, Shireesha Swargam , Anjani Mettu and Deepa Sudireddy. Later the women members ceremoniously left the bathukammas into the nearby creek. Bathukammas floating on the slow moving water in the twilight sun with wafting smoke from agarbatthi's in Bathukamma was a beautiful site to watch. After the Nimajjanam "sathu pindi" was distributed to everyone. Most of the women and men who participated said they'll come with all their friends and acquaintances for the next year celebrations.

Jawahar Akavaram and Kaleemuddin organized the children and ladies events. Sreenath Kunduru, Prabhakar Mettu and Naveen Sudireddy organized Volleyball game to men. Later winning teams were distributed with prizes.

In vote of thanks, Ramesh Munukuntla, Surender Peddi and Jawahar Akavaram thanked all the participants and reiterated that TDF will organize many more events and solicited every ones' active involvement to pass on Telangana culture and traditions to the next generation. They also mentioned that Telangana Night will be held in December 2009 tentatively.

The event was organized by TDF Executive Committee Surender Peddi, Mahesh Madadi, Chandra Swargam, Ramesh Munukuntla and Prabhakar Mettu who have taken time out of their busy schedules to make it grand Success. They would like to extend thanks to Sreenath Kunduru, Jawahar Akavaram, Naveen Sudireddy, Kaleem Mohammed, Atheeque Pasha, Giridhar Ramarthi, Devender Gujjula, Suresh Kairose, Panduranga Raju, Ravinder Munimanda, Shireesha Swargam, Amitha Pinikesi and Mahender Padidam, Koteshwar Chittaluri, Prakash Chityala, Vijay Maryada, Umesh, Vishwanath and other volunteers who have worked hard to organize and make the event a great success. Please visit www.telangana.ca for information on future events.