Huge Turnout For The First Detroit Bathukamma Festival

Saturday in Detroit, was a day that had plenty of blessings from Varuna and Vayu Gods. But that didn’t deter enthusiastic Telanganites to show up in large numbers to make the First Detroit Bathukamma a grand success. It took no time for the muggy weather to turn jubilant as girls and ladies played Bathukamma to the tune of beautiful Bathukamma songs. About 250 people from all over Michigan and even as far as Lansing and Toledo came to participate in the Bathukamma festival, braving rain and cold.

Telangana Development Forum (TDF-USA) has organized the First Detroit Bathukamma Festival celebrations at Marathoma Church Hall in Southfield. People started coming in slowly from 12:30 pm onwards with beautifully decorated Bathukammas and by 2:00 pm the hall was completely filled with people. Ram Reddy of WarangalNRI.org has started the ceremony with his welcome speech and set the agenda for the event. He introduced the other organizers Hari Maroju, Preeti Reddy and Archana Solipuram. Hari Maroju spoke briefly about origin and activities of TDF and then about the significance of Bathukamma. In his message Hari said, as a result of cultural aggression of internal colonialists, Telangana cultural icons have not only been marginalized but are at the verge of extinction. Unfortunately this trend didn’t spare even Telangana gods and festivals. There has never been a greater need than today to reassert our glorious Telangana culture and heritage. Later few elders, who are on a visit to America, spoke about the significance of Bathukamma and were pleasantly surprised by the organizers initiative of celebrating Bathukamma in a far off land and the efforts to preserve and propagate our culture and tradition.

Lunch was served with different Saddulu (rice dishes) and various authentic Telangana cuisine brought by the participants. Later there were games for the kids. Prizes and Goodies were distributed to all the children.

There were about 30 beautifully decorated Bathukammas. Some of the families assembled at one place and took great effort in making few big Bathukammas. It brought back childhood memories for many. At 3:30pm Bathukamma started with the ceremonial Gowri pooja. The girls formed an inner circle while the ladies formed a bigger outer circle. An elder lady who is on a visit to US sang melodious “Bathukamma Bathukamma uyyalo...” as others gave her chorus. It was a visual treat to see ladies and girls clad in colorful bright sarees, stepping around rhythmically. Children enjoyed most as they jumped and danced going around the Bathukammas to the beats of the songs. The fun went on for more than an hour. Later Bathukammas were immersed in a makeshift pool arranged outside the hall.

This event was organized with the help of many volunteers from WarangalNRI.org. TDF Detroit chapter would like to thank all the people who actively participated and made this event a big success. TDF would like to thank  Nagesh, Vijay Mareddy, Laxman, Anil Eravarthi, Sreenivas Emmadi, Shailendra Sanam and Ashok Perumandla for their efforts and contributions. The event turned out to be a big success far beyond the expectations of the organizers and all the participants were happy which brought back fond memories.