With the New Year setting in, the calendar of community events in Auckland is also getting back on track.
First off in 2023 was Sankranthi Sambaralu – the celebration of Makar Sankranti by the New Zealand Telugu Association (NZTA). Notably, Sankranti is one of the most important festivals for Telugu people, as it is for communities across India. It is the date on which the Sun starts its northward journey (hence also known as Uttarayan in many parts of India).
The Mount Roskill War Memorial Hall event on Saturday (14th January) saw the members of the Kiwi-Telugu community coming together. Known faces from the community, such as Bala Beeram, Govardhan Mallela, Narender Reddy Patlola, Vijay Kosna, Ramya Negi, Dharmendar Alle and Nilima Venkat, were seen in attendance.
Interestingly, the event also marked the beginning of the silver jubilee celebrations of the association, which was established in 1998 to maintain the culture of the Telugu people of India and serve the Telugu-speaking people living in New Zealand.
The event was organised by the newly elected committee of NZTA, spearheaded by its president Suneel Kuncha.
Talking to the Indian Weekender, Kuncha said, “We are overwhelmed with the response we got for this event. Having made a mark in the community for 25 years, this was the biggest Sankranti celebration ever by NZTA. The event saw an active participation of over 450 people, including record-breaking membership registrations for the first-ever event of the year. Sankranthi Sambaralu was a huge success, way beyond our expectations. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who made it a grand success.”
The programme commenced with NZTA members paying tributes to Telugu Talli (mother Telugu) and singing the Indian national anthem.
The event's highlight was two main competitions: Rangoli and the kids' traditional dress Costume. Whilst all the participants were competing to win in the Rangoli Competition outdoors, the fun continued for the rest of the attendees. The committee ensured to take advantage of the summer sun and breeze and handed out kites for any attendee to use. This was followed by the Bhogi Pallu ceremony (a traditional way of blessing children).
The excitement continued as the day with prize distributions to the winners of the Rangoli and the Traditional Dress Competition. The prizes given to the winners of the adults in the Rangoli Competition were sarees. NZTA gave out two sarees for the top five winning teams, as each team consisted of two participants. The winners for this year were Vindhya Ganisetti and Shravani, Lavanya Komal and Sunitha Itla, Kavitha Mannem and Vinodhini Reddy, Sridevi Pusarla and Sohini Madisetty, Rukmini Chiyyedu and Bhargavi Matta.
The event concluded with the traditional Telugu dinner, which included a lot of lip-smacking non-vegetarian and vegetarian festive dishes that left the attendees asking for more.
Guests, too, shared their excitement about the event.
Nilima Venkat said, “The event was well organized and attended. Sankranti festival is celebrated with lots of gaiety and fervour in South India and it was great to see the same happening here in our community in Auckland. Celebrations like this give us an opportunity to keep our culture and traditions alive in a foreign land, especially for our younger generation. It was great to see children participating in Rangoli competition and traditional dress fashion show with enthusiasm. I would like to congratulate the organizers and look forward to many more such successful celebrations.
Another attendee Rajeeva Motoruru, said, "Thoroughly loved NZTA’s Sankranthi Sambaralu. I especially enjoyed seeing the colourful Rangoli. The NZTA team needs to be applauded for putting together a great show."
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