ATA Conference in July

Ramakrishna S. Pillalamarri (pkrishna@ARL.MIL)
Tue, 5 Mar 96 21:12:35 EST

A blurb on the 4th ATA Conference & Youth Convention was in the mail
box about a week ago. It is in Houston, on 5th & 6th of July. The 4th
is on a Thursday this year.

I see committees for about 30 assorted activities, and the chairpersons
thereof. In each case a phone number is given. But as of this date,
when all of us are anxiously awaiting the arrival of another century,
nay, a millennium, we still see ourselves bound by the chains of the
telephone. We can't see the possibilities of the Internet, yet. I will
be willing to bet that more than half of these people, from Jithender
Reddy (713-565-0437) who is the ATA National Coordinator, to Vijaya
Nannegari (713-286-3226), in charge of Women's Forum, are all within
net-reach, even if in some cases they don't realize this themselves.

But that is not res gestae here.

Let me sprinkle some phone numbers here.

A. V. N. Reddy, Convenor 713-578-2468
K. B. Inampudi, Coord./TCA Liaison 713-879-1020 (What's TCA? Precisely!)
N. V. R. Sarma, Cultural 713-484-5036
Nagaraju Eleswarapu, Information 713-980-1492
Chitten Raju Vanguri, Souvenir 713-493-9054

They are planning to have a Souvenir, Exhibits, CME Program, Women's
Forum, Business Seminars, Alumni meetings, Panel discussions, Cultural
Programs,... the usual mixture. Oh yes, they are promising "authentic,
spicy Telugu vindubhojanam".

Some of the highlights are: presence of Mother Theresa, SPB and Chitra,
sinAre, Jayasudha in a play, Bhanu Priya in a dance, SatAvadhAni mADugula
nAgaphaNi Sarma assisted by an ashTAvadhAni (folks, that's what it says,
I am only reporting it!), praNay kumAr's songs, ...

And there will be some Telugu artists from US. Wanna participate? Send a
demo tape to NVR Sarma.

There is an essay contest in three age categories; 12-16, -22, and -30. The
topics being: "Being Indian", "Indian and American Culture", and "Indians
in a group". I have given highly abbreviated titles here. The actual
description of these topics runs into an abstract in itself. For example,
the description of the third topic runs to 87 words! And the suggested
length of the essay is 250-700 words.

When you "describe" the topic in such detail, are you severely limiting
what can be said, and how it can be said? Also, when you ask for an essay
on "how an Indian group contributed positively or negatively to the
assimilation of Indians in the US", are you ruling out youth who did not
have had a chance to witness such a phenomenon, from participating in the
essay contest? It is not as bad as it sounds though. Looking at the age
bracket for this group (23-30), one can reasonably expect such an experience
of this group, as opposed to the younger groups.

For details on the essay contest, call Korivi Mahendra, at 713-666-7755

The letter of invitation by the convenor says "zoom into the Texas size
George R. Brown Convention Center, the sprawling venue of the ....."

Back in '89 we went to the TANA Conference in Houston. It was arranged in
the University of Houston. That was the last of such venues. After that,
huge cavernous convention centers of one sort or another are being chosen,
resulting in an explosion of all assorted costs. Just as for the last TANA
in Chicago, the registration for this conference is $150 for a couple,
plus $50 for each child over 2 years of age. I guess there is no turning
back of the clock.

Ramakrishna