Nevertheless, as such info may be useful for many others, and because
just a few days ago I received a brochure from ATA giving a summary list
of events, here it is:
ATA 4th Conference & Youth Convention
July 5th & 6th at George Brown Convention Center, Houston
Registration: Couple $150 after June 15th, $200
additional members $50 $75
Single Person $100 $125
Students/Tourists $50 $75
(Ah, now I remember. I may have questioned how they would verify the
Student-ness or Tourist-status. Would they ask you to produce an ID card
or a Passport? I remember making the same crack at a similarly wacky
registration price list for the Tenth TANA Conference at Chicago)
(One more comment. Single persons may better temporarily be "adopted"
by some family, to save $50!
Some of high-lights, low-lights, and side-lights of the Conference:
(This list of bullets is of their own choosing, not mine)
Sridevi (not Sri Devi as listed) makes a guest appearance
"Important Dignitaries" expected to attend:
Congressman Ken Bentsen
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee
Mayor, City of Houston (how can you pass this up!)
Indian Ambassador or his representative
Dr. Anji Reddy, Industrialist
K. S. Sarma, Director General, Doordarshan
A. Madhava Reddy - AP State Delegation
Devender Goud - ,,
N. Janardhan Reddy - ,,
First time ever - Dance to Uma's Music! (this is intriguing!)
Banquet on 4th of July - $25 ticket, or a donation of $500
Baby Sitting / Child Care (difference?) at reasonable prices
Special Activities for under 12 - video games, movies, ...
No Smoking - anywhere in the Convention Center
Free buses to Meenakshi Temple on July 6 (a beautiful Temple)
Raffle of a round trip ticket for two, NY-Hyderabad, by Air-India
Folk Dance Competition, another first! Must be a folk dance related
to Andhra Pradesh. (wish TAGDV adopts this rule)
Free transportation between Hotels and Convention Center (July 5/6)
There are Business Seminars, Alumni Meetings, lots of Panel discussions,
CME Program, Literarry programs, ATA General Body Meeting, Arts, Crafts
and Business Exhibits (read lots of Sarees and Jewelery, with a bit of
the rest thrown in), Women's Forum, ...
Key Note speech by C. Narayana Reddy, Award Ceremonies, Dramas, Music,
Mimicry, Harikatha, Fashion Show, Shobha Naidu's Ballet, Tribal Dances,
Judgment on Bharatam by Venkata Sivaiah & party, ashTAvadhAnam by
mADugula nAgaphaNi Sarma, burra katha, magic show, songs by Chitra and
Vandemataram Sreenivas, Drama by Jayasudha & party, jAnapada jallulu by
pranay kumar, .....
A whole lot of phone numbers, too many to list here.
Call AVN Reddy, Convenor - 713-578-2468, or
B. Syamasundaram, Co-Convenor - 713-496-7383
Ramakrishna
PS: I do not have any official, un-official, quasi-official affiliation
with ATA. I just excerpted some information from their brochure mailed
about a week or so ago.