Great Things in Little Packages! - Ugadi Celebrations at MATA, Dayton

PALANA (nparinand@cas.org)
Tue, 8 Apr 1997 12:18:35 -0400 

    On Saturday, the 5th of April (1997), the Miami Valley Telugu Association
    (MATA - Hope I expanded the acronym correctly) of Dayton, Ohio, celebrated
    the Telugu New Year, Ugadi.

    The association comprises of a small Telugu community unlike that of big US
    cities (even smaller than the Columbus Telugu Community, the TACO) but MATA
    is more enthusiastic and energetic than many Telugu Associations I have seen
    in the US. The association runs smoothly on a well-coordinated Team work.
    This year' Dayton' Telugu Association celebrated Ugadi with two great
    features - (1) sereved luscious and savory foods - The ladies of Dayton
    Telugu Community worked very hard to reach the highest standards of
    hospitality of serving mouth-watering foods. Hats off to them! I even asked
    one of those kind ladies to give some left-overs in a small containers.
    Not only adhering to the quality, they prepared large amounts of all food
    items to satisfy the hunger of guests like me.

    Cultural program was the biggest attraction of Dayton' 1997 Ugadi
    Celebrations. Local talent was good. The most enjoyable one of this cultural
    program was the variety entertainment staged by the Actors of the DTA
    (Detroit Telugu Association). The group was coordinated by Mr. udayakumaar
    chaapalamaDugu and Mr. jvaalaaSaraSchandra kompelli (popular as jvaalaa).
    Mimicry was done by Mr. jonnalagaDDa raambaabu, Mr. cheemalamarri
    Sreenivaas, and Mr. SrIkaant pOtaraaju. Friends! This mimicry is one of its
    kind. This trio imitated several noted Andhra Cine Artists. They did a
    fantastic job. The mimicry was built on a plot and the dialogues were great
    - the moment they started the mimicry, you wouldn't stop laughing. Great
    stuff! They proved that laughter is the best medicine. The Andhra Cine
    artists ended up in the US. They earned their living by working at
    McDonalds, Burger King, and other restaurants (earning minimum wages). They
    couldn't take it and wanted to become stinking rich. The only way they could
    become very rich is by joining the NBA as a pro-team. This pro-NBA-team
    formed by the Andhra Cine Artists was clled "aandhraa aambOtulu". Rao Gopala
    Rao was the Head Coach and Dasari Narayana Rao was the assistant coach. This
    was hilarious. Many noted actors like ANR, NTR, Sobhan, Krishna, Nagarajuna,
    and Chiranjeevi were all the players. The mimicry was superb. I don't have
    adequate vocabulary to describe this. You should see this and enjoy. I had
    seen several artists doing mimicry in the past. No one did perform mimicry
    like the Detroit Group - jonnalagadda raambaabu, cheemalamarri Sreenivaas,
    and Sreekaant pOtaraaju. Their mimicry has a plot and above all it is an
    excellent satire. The humor is well-balanced and the dialogues are
    well-civilized. This is a new twist to the Telugu Mimicry. They could even
    try standup comedy in Telugu and they sure, will do great. I enjoyed it and
    my warm congratulations to them. Please keep it up!

    Mr. nootalapaaTi narasimhaaraavu sang a couple of cine songs with background
    and accompanying music (recorded). narasimhaaarao has a sweet voice. He sang
    well-balanced and has a great control over his pitch. Mr. udayakumar
    chaapalamaDugu was the Folk Song Singer - he sang a couple of Telugu Folk
    Songs and woke up the sleepy heads. Udayakumar has a great masculine voice
    and his singing tempo that is needed for folk song singing was admirable.
    Mr. amaranaath aatmakUri also accompanied Mr. udayakumaar
    and did a superb job. These singers are additional jewels in DTA' crown.

    The play staged by these artists is "varuDu kaavaali", directed by Sri
    udayakumaar. This is a homorous play. The entire play ran for nearly an
    hour. Time flew like an arrow and they reminded us that the play was over
    without a slightest discomfort. Again, the script was hilarious. Above all,
    the actors did do justice to the script and in fact made the stage and
    audience vivaceous. Mr. amaranaath aatmakoori, who played the role of
    appaaraavu in the drama, did an unparallel job. His acting was of top
    quality and this lad is a pot of humor.

    Above all, Sarat, Uday, Srinivas, Amaranath, Rambabu, and Srikant of the DTA
    prove that they are a good team and well-seasoned stage artists. All these
    actors are young (a lot yonger than I am) and are down to earth. They have a
    special feature - always happy, very amicable, and modest. Gentlemen of DTA!
    Please keep up your cool and make the US Telugu Community happy with your
    sweet but funny wit!

    love
    pAlana

    Apologies: Any errors or omissions or alterations may be excused.


    PS: The sArathi, instrumental for such a splendid cultural evening
	at Dayton to happen, was Sri Jampala Chowdary. Of course, the executive
	committee and the Telugu Community of MATA also deserve compliments.
	Sri Gangadhara Rao Nadella, the current secretary and newly elected
	president of TANA, did encourage the group to perform at Dayton. I thank
	Sri Nadella Gangadhar Rao for his encouragement to the artists so that
	I am fortunate to witness their precious performance.
	One thing I noticed was that the audience of MATA at Dayton were
	well-behaved and very civilized unlike of many many Telugu Associations
	in US. There was pin-drop silence throughout the program (adults did not
	talk throughout about their sarees or backyard lawns). It was very
	enjoyable. I thank my sister who reminded me about this program.
	Great beginning of my Ugadi. Unforgettable. If you have a chance, please
	invite this artists group of DTA and enjoy them performing in your
	hometown. This group has a professional wand!

   Disclaimer: Opinions are mine only.