Telugu ALLIANCES of Canada (TACA) celebrated “SANKRANTHI SAMBARALU” on the evening of Saturday, 14th January 2012 in Mississauga, Canada with attendance of approximately 800 people. TACA conducted “MUGGULU” and Anthyakshari competitions, Bhogi Pallu showering for the kids, and also released TELUGU calendar for the year 2012 by local M.P.P Mrs. Deepika Damerla. TACA conducted 30 cultural programs of various kinds like movie songs, dances, skits, and the whole event was celebrated for seven hours from 5pm to past midnight. TACA arranged SANKRANTHI bhojanalu with “ARISELU”, and ” LADLU” along with other delicious TELUGU food.

TACA Secretary Ramachandrarao Duggina started the stage programs by welcoming the audience to the event and invited local M.P.P, Mrs. . Deepika Damerla along with Sreedevi Chavva, Radhika Kota, Sasikala Vennamaneni, Pallavi Garikapati for the Deepam lighting and handed over the stage to the Cultural secretary Arunkumar Layam. TACA President, Mr. Gangadhar Sukhavasi, delivered a SANKRANTHI message to the audience about the significance of Sankranthi, and how hard the committee worked to make the event successful and how important it is to keep the rich Telugu culture in Canada. TACA BOT Chairman, Mr. Chari Samanthapudi, also conveyed a message regarding TACAs long term planning, vision and goals.

Mrs. Meena Mulpuri and Jyothi Samanthapudi accompanied M.P.P. Mrs. Deepika Damerla to launch the Telugu Calendar along with all Executive and board of trustee committees. Mrs. Sasikala Vennamaneni, Vivek Goverdhanam, Sreenivas, and Vikram Kondathasula acted as master of ceremony for the entire event.

This time TACA added Antyakshari and Cinema quiz to our cultural activities. Mr. Arun Layam introduced this event. All the participants enjoyed the program.

President thanked food committee headed by Sreenivas Bachina and Munaf Abdul ; decor committee headed by Ram and Aparna; and calendar committee headed by Lokesh, Rakesh, and Ram . TACA felicitated ex-coordinator Ravi Varanasi and a memento was presented by Mr. Lakshminarayana Surapaneni.

Mr. Gangadhar Vennamaneni and Mr. Ramesh Munukuntla (Board of Trustees) distributed the mementoes to the participants.

Sponsors Sreenivas Bachina and family distributed prizes to the winners of Anthyakshari and Muggula competitions. All the participants also received a special TACA memento by EC and BOT.

All the following executive committee and Board of trustees attended and worked hard to make it successful.

Executive Committee:

•  President: Gangadhar Sukhavasi
• Vice president: Abdul Munaf
• Secretary: Ramachandrarao Duggina
• Cultural Secretary: Arunkumar Layam
• Treasurer: Lokesh Chilkuru
• Director-1: Aparna Kolipera
•  Director-2: Sreenivas Bachina
• Director -3: Ravikiran Chavva
• Youth Director: Vivek Goverdhanam

Board of Trustees:

• Chari Samanthapudi (BOT Chairman)
• LakshmiNarayana Surapaneni
• Ravi Varanasi
• Ramesh Munukuntla
• Gangadhararao Vennamaneni

Lastly, Munaf Abdul thanked all the committees, volunteers, food providers, sponsors, fund raisers and participants along with Indian National Anthem.