Jeddah: A celebratory mood is prevailing among the Telangana expatriate community across the Gulf region as Sankranti festivities are being organised on a grand scale.
The harvest festival of Sankranti is celebrated in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on a grand scale and the Telugu community abroad follows the tradition.
A grand festival was held by the Saudi Arabian Telugu Association (SATA) in Dammam recently, with hundreds of families gathering at the venue. The Telugu expatriates celebrated Sankranti with great enthusiasm and excitement.
The festive spirit was alive at the venue, as it was turned into a makeshift village. Huts were built, a replica of a bullock cart was placed. The atmosphere is glittering with women dressed in traditional attire and drawn colourful ‘Muggu’ (rangoli) in the larger premises besides beautifully decorating the crop harvest scenarios into typical rural village atmosphere background.
Three-time meals served besides providing snacks for the entire day. The children and women participated in various sports and cultural events.
The Haridas, one of the prime symbols of Sankranti is fading away back home, however, an enthusiastic Telugu Diaspora brought it fore in Saudi Arabia. The Haridas performance of Muccharla Leela and Arvind has captivated the audience. The anchoring by Shilpa – Gourishanker, Praveena – Tarak thrilled the audience.
Sankranti has become the most awaited calendar event for us, said Chaitanya KP, native of Karimnagar and lives in Al Khobar, which was echoed by Muccharla Leela of Guntur who also lives in the same city. It was out of imagination to witness such a large Telugu community in the Dammam area, said Dr. Ather Qamruddin, native of Hyderabad who has been working as a doctor in Saudi for over 25 years.
The event was presided by Pallem Teja, president of SATA in Eastern Province. Kishore, Pawan, A. Sandhya and Shilpa, Leela and among others supervised the event.
Day-long cultural and entertainment programmes thrilled the audience.
The similar event is being planned in the capital Riyadh and will be held on Friday, January 19, said Sucharita, president of SATA women wing.
Sankranti was celebrated in Tabuk, Jeddah and Dammam with active participation of Telugu NRIs, said Mallesan, President of SATA.
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