It would behoove the organizers, especially those who manage the stage,
to attend the Annual North American Telugu Drama and Folk Dance Competitions
held by the Telugu Asociation of Greater Delaware Valley, on the occasion of
Ugadi, each year. Even though they have slacked a little bit recently, their
management of stage time is still far superior to any I have seen. Considering
that this event takes place in late April to early May, it would be timely
for the biennial conferences, which take place in early July.
I feel the same way about imported entertainment. Too many times, it does
not cut the mustard. This may be due to any number of reasons. Lack of
preparation, jet-lag, an under-estimation of the audience, culural-social
incompatibility of the dialogues, themes (between fare served for audiences
in India and US), and many other factors might contribute to this.
I would like to echo the concerns regarding the food arrangement. When
vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes are kept side-by-side, there is
always the chance that serving spoons and ladles would get mixed, and
things would spill from one to the other. A greater sensitivity to
this aspect should be observed by the organizers.
Ramakrishna
PS: I realize that this discussion has the weakest of links to TELUSA. I
propose that further posts on this matter be conducted in SCIT, and/or
the new Telugu discussion group at "www.telugu.com". However, this new
forum looks like it is undergoing teething troubles. The discussion forum
is temporarily down. Other aspects of it (news, poetry, calendar,..) are
functional though. If you haven't visited this site, why haven't you?