Guntur to host third edition of World Telugu Conference in January 3rd-5th, 2026

"Andhra Saraswata Parishath has started preparations for the mega event almost 14 months in advance to make it a big success".. Read more at: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/114057075.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Mufasa: The Lion King’s Telugu trailer featuring Mahesh Babu’s voice is out

A new dimension to the character we know and love! Extremely excited to be the voice of Mufasa in Telugu and having been a massive fan of the classic, this is a special one for me!

Long live the king ♥️@DisneyStudiosIN pic.twitter.com/9LdAX6qexT

— Mahesh Babu (@urstrulyMahesh) August 26, 2024

The Telugu Association of Malaysia to Host National Level Ugadi Open House

Telugu Association of Malaysia Headquarters will be hosting a National Level Ugadi Open House in the month of May/June 2024 after the completion of celebrations by the association's branches, and also the completion of the fasting month and Hari Raya Festivities. https://astroulagam.com.my/lifestyle/telugu-association-malaysia-host-national-level-ugadi-open-house-280527

"ChatGPT says Telugu 3rd most spoken language, experts disagree"

ChatGPT says Telugu 3rd most spoken language, experts disagree Per experts' opinion, if we take people's mother tongue into consideration, then Telugu would be the 2nd most spoken language in India. Any thoughts on this? https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/chatgpt-bing-blinks-on-telugu-language-mostly-off-the-mark/articleshow/98106562.cms

Disney+ Hotstar, BBC Studios to make a Telugu version of Dead Pixels

"Disney+ Hotstar, BBC Studios to make a Telugu version of Dead Pixels https://www.televisual.com/news/disney-hotstar-bbc-studios-to-make-a-telugu-version-of-dead-pixels/

New Yorker interview with "RRR" director - S.S. Rajamouli

'The Man Behind India’s Controversial Global Blockbuster “RRR”' https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/the-man-behind-indias-controversial-global-blockbuster-rrr-s-s-rajamouli

Veteran Telugu filmmaker K. Viswanath passes away at 92

Padma Shri awardee, filmmaker K Vishwanath has died. He was 92. Read more here

Three Telugu fonts for Internet released

Usage of Telugu language on Internet got a fillip with the release three new fonts on Tuesday by the Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

The new fonts – Ponnala font, Ravi Prakash font and Lakkireddy font were jointly developed by the A.P. IT department and Silicon Andhra, a Telugu social organisation of the USA. The availability of these fonts in Unicode is expected to give an impetus to the usage of Telugu on Internet and promote the language and culture. The fonts were named after people who sponsored them and they include the IT Minister, Ponnala Lakshmaiah; TV 9 CEO, Ravi Prakash, and a US based Telugu businessmen Lakireddy Hanimi Reddy.

He also opened a website “Telugu Vijayam” at the programme organised to mark the International Mother Languages Day on Tuesday. Mr. Reddy hoped that a day will come when companies would ask for people proficient in Telugu language like they are asking for proficiency in English now. Internet, he felt, can create those opportunities and agreed with the views of earlier speakers that all the western countries use their mother-tongue for business activity. But, he felt such a scenario will come only when parents insist children on speaking Telugu at home.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Challenges of making Telugu language internet-friendly

Encoding all symbols under the Unicode system is far from over'

Linguistic and computer experts grappled with the various challenges of making Telugu language Internet-friendly at the three-day International Telugu Internet Conference under progress here.

The task of encoding all the symbols of Telugu under the Unicode system is far from over, they felt.

Unicode Consortium president, vice-president, and chairperson of Unicode Technical Committee Lisa Moore said the consortium was encoding several Indic scripts. There were still some Telugu symbols that needed to be encoded.

Prof. Peri Bhaskara Rao of the Research Institute for the Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, an Institution of the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and chairman of the first Telugu Internet Conference outlined several problems in making Telugu a more Internet-friendly language. He said the need to drop a few symbols of the Telugu language that were “spoofable” ( used to imitate other characters) was under examination.

He said there were several problems in developing language editors, spell checker, and text-to-speech (TTS) systems for Telugu.

Prof. G. Uma Maheswara Rao of the Centre for Applied Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Hyderabad, said developing a spell checker for Telugu was challenging because it was an “agglutinating language with a very complex morphology coupled with prolific sandhi (also known in linguistic terms as morphophonemics).

“Designing a spell checker for Indian languages such as Telugu poses many new challenges not found in English. In Telugu, inflectional elements (which include different kinds of auxiliary verbs, postpositions, particles, and case-makers) are always bound to the stem resulting in highly synthetic word forms.

The number of possible verb forms for a verb stem in Telugu, therefore, is very high running into millions, aggravating the task of the morph analyzer (of the spell checker),” he said.

A team of experts at the Hyderabad University were trying to address all these problems, he said.

Vasudeva Verma from the Search and Information Extraction Lab, IIIT-Hyderabad, outlined the efforts being made to develop a Cross Language Information Access (CLIA) in Telugu. He said that CLIA could be considered as an extension to Cross Language Information Retrival (CLIR) systems. This would help in making accessible the huge amount of information available in different languages, mostly English, to people who know only Telugu.

RICH PHONETICS

He said a team in IIIT was working on developing CLIRs in the domains of health and tourism with funds from the Government of India. CISCO systems architect Kolichala Suresh said it was good time to think about reforms in Telugu script.

He suggested inclusion of some new symbols to preserve the rich phonetics of the language. He said living languages constantly evolved and particularly at the time when technology used to write or print them changes. It is known to all that script of Telugu is rounded because palmyra leaf was used as writing material.

A few symbols were dropped and changed when typing technology came up because it did not allow horizontal staking, he said.

Courtesy: The Hindu

First International Telugu meet begins

The first international Telugu Internet conference began here on Wednesday. Unicode Consortium vice-president and Unicode Technical Committee Lisa Moore delivered the keynote address at the First International Telugu Internet Conference organised jointly by Andhra Pradesh Government, SiliconAndhra and Global Internet Forum for Telugu (GIFT).

Minister for Information Technology and Computers Ponnala Lakshmaiah said that Andhra Pradesh Government had become a permanent member of the Unicode Consortium. Attempts were being to develop six fonts to begin with. The Minister said that he would donate the Rs. 6 lakh needed for developing one font to be named after his family ‘Ponnala'. Principal Secretary for Information Technology and Computers Sanjay Jaju said that Andhra Pradesh Government was the only Government to become a full member of the Unicode Consortium. He said that the full membership would give the Government voting rights and a lot of space for Telugu language on the internet.

He said the Minister was the first to come forward to contribute for the development of a Telugu font. He said a unicode font for cellphone would also be developed soon.

Former Minister and honorary chairman of the conference Mandali Buddha Prasad said that internet was the only thing that could integrate the Telugus all over the world. Languages with smaller populations have made tremendous advances in the field of computers and internet. Andhra Pradesh Society for Knowledge of Networks CEO A. Amarnath Reddy said making Telugu more internet friendly would improve the chances of Telugu people getting better jobs.

Tokyo University of foreign Studies faculty Peri Bhaskara Rao and University of Hyderabad faculty memberG. Uma maheswara Rao. TV 9 CEO Ravi Prakash spoke. Several language and computer experts are presenting papers in the three-day conference closing on Friday. Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy is scheduled to address the delegates through the internet on the closing day for 15 minutes beginning at 9.30 a.m. local time.

Courtesy: The Hindu

Telugu film 'Vanaja' housefull at Locarno festival

After travelling to 32 film festivals, Telugu film "Vanaja", a tale of a 15-year-old girl's dream of becoming a world class Kuchipudi dancer, was screened here Saturday and went housefull.

Director Rajneesh Domapalli says he may soon have it released in theatres in India.

"I made 'Vanaja' in 2005 as my master thesis at the Columbia University. My film had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and in 2007 it won the best debut award at the Berlin Film Fest. I released the film in theatres in the US and South Africa and I will soon release it in India," Domapalli told IANS.

Set in rural Andhra Pradesh of the 1960s, the film that explores the chasm that divides classes as a young girl struggles to come of age was screened in the Open Doors section at the ongoing 64th Locarno International Film Festival.

In the film, Vanaja (Mamatha Bhukya), daughter of a low caste fisherman who is struggling to make ends meet, goes to work in the house of the local landlady, Rama Devi (Urmila Dammannagari), in hopes of learning Kuchipudi dance while earning her keep.

How her dreams are left unfulfilled after the arrival of her employer's son is told in a very subtle but effective manner by the director who says he isn't trying to give any message through the film.

"I have woven the threads into the story - gender issue, caste system and clash of old and modern. My film also tells what happens when boundaries that should not be crossed are crossed," said Domapalli who has made it with non-actors whom he handpicked from the middle class families.

"I took people from middle class families. They had acting training for one to two years. The lead didn't know Kuchipudi dance and she had to learn it from scratch," said the director who has managed to extract the best from his cast.

All the actors look natural on screen and their performances make it an interesting watch.

The director describes it as a low budget film and added: "For art house film making inroads in India takes going up against commercial establishments and quite a lot of money."

His next will be "Avani", but before making the film he will release it as a novel and use the money earned from its sales in the making of the movie.

"'Avani's' screenplay is over and bits of novel have also been written. I am writing another novel on young adult fantasy that uses a 14-year-old as protagonist and is set across three worlds."

Courtesy: Times of India

Google Translate welcomes you to the Indic web - Google Translate Blog

Google Translate welcomes you to the Indic web - Google Translate Blog

Google Translation ఇప్పుడు తెలుగు లొ

Telugu is now supported by Google Translator

http://googletranslate.blogspot.com/2011/06/google-translate-welcomes-you-to-indic.html

Telugu professors do homeland proud

HYDERABAD: It is said that if there’s one thing Telugus value more than gold, it’s education. What’s well known is that in the best of universities across the world, Telugus are among the creme de la creme of the student pool. But not content with just learning, Telugus are also making a mark for themselves as teachers.

Donning a teacher’s robe is not a novel career choice, just one that has been largely overshadowed by the more visible options of engineering and medicine for Telugus. But these intellectually inclined folk can no longer be ignored.

Analysts estimate that there are easily more than 300-400 academicians of Telugu origin in universities across the US alone, including the Ivy League. They are not just fixtures in the Foreign Language or the South-Asian Studies departments but are distinguished research scholars, professors, heads of departments, deans, vice presidents, among others.

Some very distinguished academicians are people of Telugu origin. Consider Mysore-born Telugu man చల్యంపుడి రాధాకృష్ణ రావు (Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao) (popularly known as CR Rao). Currently a Professor Emeritus at Penn State University, 89-year old Rao is a living legend and among the best known statisticians in the world. He has won innumerable awards, has 28 honorary degrees from universities over 17 countries and has his name etched in history for giving ‘Cramer-Rao bound’ and ‘Rao-Blackwell theorem’ to the world. Contemporary IT students will certainly have heard of రాజ్ రెడ్డి (Raj Reddy), the man behind the establishment of the IIIT at Hyderabad. A native of Katur in Chittoor district, this former professor at Stanford University is a pioneer, having founded the first-of-its-kind Robotics Institute in Carnegie Mellon University, way back in 1979.

CR Rao and Raj Reddy might be most prominent, but many other Telugus are shining on the American academic scene. డా. బాలమురళి అంబాటి (Dr Balamurali Ambati), India’s own ‘Doogie Howser’ became the world’s youngest doctor when graduated at 17. So what drives these academicians to become the achievers that they are?” Telugus do not care for name, fame or designation but teach because of their love for teaching,” explains Pudur Jagdeeswaran, a professor at the University of North Texas. He believes that Telugus, like most Indian professors, are able to bring more to their classroom because of their global outlook. Besides that, their excellent academic records, commitment to hard work and training skills nurtured in India help, he adds.

Which probably explains why several of these academicians are occupying responsible positions in their universities as well. For instance కృష్ణ పాలెపు (Krishna Palepu), the Senior Associate Dean for International Development at Harvard Business School and also Ross Walker professor of Business Administration. మైకెల్ రావు (Michael Rao) is the President of Virginia Commonwealth University. Breaking stereotypes, more and more Telugu teachers are reaching beyond subjects of engineering and medicine to social sciences, media and cultural studies, journalism etc. Speaking for Indian academicians (particularly Telugus) former professor of journalism, అనంత్ బబ్బిల్లి (Ananth Babbilli) also Dean, Provost and Vice President Academic Affairs at Texas A&M says, “Our intellectual depth nurtured by a multicultural and diverse cultural milieu in which we grew up, coupled with a confident global intuition are the secrets of our success”. He received the Texas Professor of the Year award by the Carnegie Foundation.

వంశీ జులురి (Vamsee Juluri), professor of Media Studies at University of San Fransico says that its natural for Telugus to be excellent professors, no matter what their subject, because they come from a culture of learning and a mindset that requires respect for education. On his part he always trying to break stereotypes and represent the Telugu voice of India in his class. He routinely screens Tollywood movies to his Do students to give them a better insight into Telugu culture. While spreading gyan among global students, mana gurus seem to be doing their homeland proud.

Courtesy: TOI

Telugu Film Industry pays tribute to lyricist Veturi

Telugu film industry Sunday paid rich tributes to legendary lyricist Veturi Sundararama Murthy, who died following cardiac arrest.

He was 74 and is survived by his wife and three sons.

Veturi died Saturday night at a hospital, where he was admitted last week due to multiple problems.

Several prominent film personalities paid their last respects to the noted lyricist at his residence in Srinagar colony. The cremation will take place at Bansilalpet samshan later in the day.

Eminent film personalities, including director K. Viswanath, producer D. Ramanaidu, actors N. Balakrishna, Murali Mohan, Mohan Babu and Nagender Babu paid tributes to Veturi, who left an indelible impression on film industry.

Veturi, a poet who began his career as a journalist, went on to become one of the leading lyricist by penning memorable songs, ranging from classical to folk and the popular ones.

In his career spanning over three decades, he wrote hundreds of songs and also achieved the distinction of being a writer who can write a song within 15 minutes.

"I have lost my brother," said Viswanath.

The lyricist began his career in film industry by penning songs for Viswanath's film O Sita Katha (1974). His songs for the director's other movies like Siri Siri Muvva (1978), Saptapadi (1980) and Sagara Sangamam (1983) became very popular.

Born Jan 29, 1936 at Pedakallepalli in Krishna district, Veturi worked for Telugu dailies Andhra Prabha and Andhra Patrika. In 1994, he won the national film award for best lyrics. He was the second lyricist from Telugu film industry to achieve this distinction but returned the award since Telugu was not declared a classical language.

Veturi was also a recipient of Andhra Pradesh government's Nandi film award eight times for best lyrics.

Courtesy: NDTV

UGC Project in Telugu University

Rajahmundry, April 02: A socio-cultural literary index of writers from Godavari districts compiling their 1000 years of literary works would be undertaken through a special UGC project of Potti Sriramulu Telugu University.

Vice Chancellor Prof A Bhumaiah announced this presiding over the two-day literary meet of Godavari districts inaugurated at the Literary Centre of Telugu University at Bommuru near here.

He said the special project was approved under self assistance project with Rs 35 lakh UGC support. This project would be implemented in the coming five years requesting writers in the district to extend cooperation in this effort.

Many writers like Adikavi Nannaya ,who translated Mahabharata into Telugu and Madhunapantula Satya Narayan Sastry who wrote Andhra Puranam and others have made tremendous efforts in the field of Telugu literature, he said.

Prof B Satya Narayana, Vice Chancellor, Andhra University and in-charge Vice Chancellor Adikavi Nannaay University said that Telugu was a divine language and writers in Godavari districts have contributed to its and proved to be the main source of inspiration bringing revolution in the field of literature.

Courtesy: ZeeNews

Mauritius - The Telugu Community in country - When differences no longer matter

Port Louis — 'I am a Hindu and my wife is Telugu, but there is no difference,' says Shyam Sungkur, a doctor we interviewed in the Hari Hara Devasthanam Temple this temple situated in Midlands we were told was a Telugu temple. To our questions he adds, 'The religion is the same, the outfits are similar, there are few differences in the cuisine and we all pray to the same God in the same way.' It was on the occasion of the celebration of Ougadi, an occasion believed to be the Lunar Telugu New Year.

Both Shyam and his wife, Jeshina were adamant that there is no difference, although he classifies himself as a Hindu and she as a Telugu . As it turned out, they are probably right. The major difference between the Telugus and the other Hindus is a linguistic one. The Telugus come from the state of Andra Pradesh where Telugu is spoken.

However, in Mauritius and nowhere else, it would seem, although all the Hindus come from India and are Hindus by faith, they tend to classify themselves according to their linguistic and cultural heritage rather than to their religion. So a Tamil may tell you he is not a Hindu but a Tamil. The Marathi is not a Hindu either but a Marathi. Each community has by and large tended to keep to itself and children are brought up conscious of the heavy weight of their ancestral culture. At school, this is enforced by the different classes children go to, each trying to learn her ancestral language and culture.

The sense of belonging to the community is confi rmed by Papaya Goorimoorthee, a lecturer at the MGI. Having been a Telugu teacher himself before he converted to teaching Indian music, particularly the 'Mridanga', he stresses the linguistic and cultural identity which differentiate the Telugu community from the other Hindu communities. 'God cannot be associated with a language,' he concedes, 'but we have our differences. Our weddings are different in the sense that our women do not wear the sindhur (red powder worn in the hair to show that a woman is married) but wear the 'cordon zon' (a yellow thread collar) instead. Our ladies wear the pulloo (the 'tail' of a saree) on the right instead of the left and our cuisine, especially our cakes are different. There are some varieties of cakes which are typical of the Telugu community.'

However, of all the Hindu communities in Mauritius, the most open to others seems to be the Telugu community. Though, according to Papaya, marriages outside the community used to be rare, he thinks that things have changed a lot recently. But he can still tell a Telugu just by looking at one. Chandra Veeranah, a fast food merchant confi rms both the difference and the openness towards other communities. He also gives the example of the temple where we were, which was set up by Telugus but which is being used as a place of worship by other Hindus.

Is Ougadi a Hindu festival then? Contrary to what we have always believed, Ougadi is in fact the Hindu Lunar New Year and last Tuesday, the Hindu community celebrated the year 2067. However, in the Mauritian context, Ougadi has always been associated with the Telugus. The rest of the Hindus celebrate New Year on Sankrati, which, according to scholars, in fact marks the beginning of Uttarayana, the sun's movement northward for a six-month period or the harvest season. Are the people attending the Ougadi celebrations at the temple mostly Hindus or Telgus? The doctor says Hindus, the lecturer and the merchant say they are mainly Telugus. Swami Partha Sarathi Andra, a Telugu who comes from Andra Pradesh, is happy to tell us that the people who come to that temple are 90% Hindus. A lesson in openness and integration.

Courtesy: AllAfrica

Assembly on Telugu's Classical Status

19th Mar, 2010: The AP State Legislative Assembly today thanked the government for the step of according the "classical language" to Telugu.

The chief miniser K Rosaiah extended his gratutude to the PM Manmohan Singh and other Union Ministers for according the status to the state's language. He thanked all MPs from Andhra Pradesh as well, for their co-operation in achieving the classical language status.

In 2008, the centre had issued a notification declaring that Telugu was a classical language, but the notification was subject to disposal of Public Interest Litigation pending before the Madras High Court.

to the government, for a language to be considered "classical", the following criteria must be fulfilled - high antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years; a body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers; that the literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community.

However, the government also says that classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.

Courtesy: FullHyderabad

Disney India Making Telugu Language Adventure Film

The Walt Disney Company in India is launching a locally developed studio project aimed specifically at audiences in southern India, the studio announced on Thursday.

The still untitled fantasy adventure is scheduled to release in January 2011. Filming started last November and features a host of leading local talent.

The Telugu language movie, which will be dubbed in Tamil is expected to broaden the company’s appeal to southern India.

“India is one of the most dynamic and creatively vibrant markets in the world and this film demonstrates Disney's continued commitment to building a robust and diverse slate of locally produced films.” Jason Reed, executive vice president, production, Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures and general manager, Walt Disney Studio International Productions, said in a statement.

The fantasy film is set in the fictitious land of Sangarashtra, and focuses on the journey of a nine year old girl with special healing powers and her quest to save her home from an evil queen, played by internationally renowned actress Lakshmi Manchu. The girl is protected by a blind swordsman.

“We plan to provide Indian audiences with an unparalleled roster of locally relevant stories and engaging characters and will continue to tap into the local creative ecosystem to develop content which resonates with Indian kids and families,”Mahesh Samat, managing director, The Walt Disney Company India Pvt ltd., said in a statement.

K. Raghavendra Rao will produce the movies, and Prakash Rao Kovelamudi will direct.

Courtesy: TheWrap

Thyagaraja in Thailand

It was a deeply moving experience for many as Indian expatriates came together to organise the first-ever Thyagaraja Aradhana in Bangkok…

Perhaps it's the spirit of Thyagaraja Swami that “looks East” now after having set exotic regions of the world awash in Carnatica.

Celebrating a rich heritage:Pantula Rama (centre), violinist Mutnuri Srinivasa Narasimha Murty and Vankayala Venkata Ramana Murty (extreme left).

The new year for India in ‘Suvarnabhumi', as the Thais call their green and pleasant land, began on an auspicious note with the first-ever Thyagaraja Aradhana in Thailand. As any observer of or participant in the Carnatic world knows, the 20 {+t} {+h} century tradition of the Thyagaraja Aradhana at Thiruvaiyaru in Tamil Nadu on ‘Bahula Panchami', celebrating the 18 {+t} {+h} century saint-composer's memory through his music, is an event like no other. Moreover, it has become the expression of the Carnatic community's cultural confidence in a new country and a celebration of its rich musical heritage wherever the Carnatic diaspora settles, even — especially? — in otherwise remote places on the planet like Cleveland in the US. Not surprisingly therefore, a Thyagaraja Aradhana was organised in Bangkok by the Telugu Association of Thailand (TAT), to celebrate its first anniversary.

The artistes they invited for this jubilee, from Visakhapatnam, were vocalist-violinist Pantula Rama, her violinist husband Mutnuri Srinivasa Narasimha Murty and mridangam vidwan Vankayala Venkata Ramana Murty. All three artistes enjoy good standing in the Carnatic world: most recently, they performed on December 17, 2009 at the Madras Music Academy in its eight-decade-old annual music festival.

The two-day Bangkok Thyagaraja Aradhana began with a regular Carnatic concert by Srinivasa Murthy and Pantula Rama at the Indo-Thai Chamber of Commerce in midtown-Bangkok on a Saturday evening in January with aspects both piquant and poignant. For one, an important sponsor of the one lakh- bahtevent (about Rs. 1.35 lakhs) was a Chinese lady, while the free hotel accommodation for the artistes was courtesy a Pakistani Hindu settled in Kuwait.

Celebration of diversity

Embodying the wonder that is India, a young Sikh, Mr. Baljeet Singh, formerly of Palasa near Srikakulam, AP, welcomed the audience in chaste Telugu. Like his Sikhniwife Reena of Guntur, AP, Mr. Singh speaks, reads and writes fluent Telugu. (Habitués of the Madras Music Academy will instantly recall Mr. Yadavindra Singh, a front row regular at the Academy's festivals, whose family lived in Andhra Pradesh for five generations and who flies down every year from the US to get his ‘Margazhi monthful' of paatu).

In that very spirit, the musical range of the evening was pleasantly pan-Deccan, with requests pouring in for songs in Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil from the enchanted audience, which made full use of the opportunity to appease its emotional hunger for live Carnatic music.

Celebrating a rich heritage:Pantula Rama (centre), violinist Mutnuri Srinivasa Narasimha Murty and Vankayala Venkata Ramana Murty (extreme left).

Despite the lateness of the first evening, the artistes and a respectable slice of the audience were present early the next morning at the new Indian Cultural Centre on Sukhumvit Soi 23 (the same street as the Embassy of India in Bangkok, a location akin to Radhakrishnan Salai in Chennai or Connaught Place in New Delhi). Soon, the intense ‘ bhakti hush' produced by genuine Indian classical music pervaded the hall as the singer, flanked by as many others as the Centre's tiny stage could comfortably hold, launched in her deep, steady voice on the five grand devotional compositions in Sanskrit-Telugu by Thyagaraja Swami collectively celebrated as the ‘ Pancharatna Kriti' or Five Jewels.

Serendipitiously, it was the first concert of 2010 at the Indian Cultural Centre, Bangkok, an outpost of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (Ministry of External Affairs), inaugurated as recently as on September 22, 2009, by its President, Dr. Karan Singh and the Thai Minister for Culture, His Excellency Mr. Teera Salukpetch. The singing was preceded by the screening of a 10-minute clip of the Doordarshan DVD of the original Thayagaraja Aradhana, so as to vivify the original context to the Bangkok audience.

Fittingly, the Bangkok Thyagaraja Aradhana was covered by both a Thai TV channel, TAN-TV (Thai News Network) and a Telugu channel (TV 9) whose presenter was none but the adventurous Hyderabad-based Subbu Peteti Venkata of KtoKfame (the televised journey he made a year ago, minus any money, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir). Said ‘ Subbu' disarmingly, “My knowledge is very limited about Thyagaraja Aradhanas, but I thoroughly enjoy the very thought of everyone here trying to promote Indian culture and heritage in Thailand,” and posted a clip on YouTube soon after.

Of the Thai students from Silpakorn (Arts) University present, Banuwongse, a second-year MA student in Sanskrit said it was very interesting for him to hear “sung Sanskrit”, while his teacher, Dr. Prativa Manjari Rath of Kalinga University, currently on an ICCR teaching assignment at Silpakorn, said, “This is spiritual music. I did not need to understand Telugu to feel moved by its devotional quality.” Said Kittipong, leader of the Thai-Hindi Club of Bangkok: “Some of us relate very deeply to India. There are teachers and students at Mahidol and Silpakorn Universities who have been to South India.” They agreed that hearing Indian classical music live was a very different experience from hearing recordings.

“Well, that's why we decided to invite the artistes,” says Madhavi Vemuri and Aparna Row, the core organisers, who, in the fitness of things, asked Row's guru, Pantula Rama to star in the show. “I never expected it would be such a big event,” said Pantula Rama.

Show of solidarity

After the concert, as the women of the Telugu Association of Thailand served free vadai and coconut chutney to all A.S.N. Shastry, 54, the President of TAT, smiled with satisfaction. What began as a picnic by 12 Andhra families in Bangkok's Lumpini Park a year ago had grown to a 100-strong gathering by Ugadi (Telugu New Year) last April. By January 2010, there were a 140 members and ready to plant their flag. Typically of the singing, dancing nation that is India, they chose to do so with their music.

“I've been in Thailand 25 years,” says Shastry, who works as the factory manager in a large Chinese textile firm and says he was nominated by the Telugu Association as its President by virtue of his long residence in Thailand. “Somehow it all fell into place this year AND we have some money left over for next year's Aradhana.”

Perhaps it's the spirit of Thyagaraja Swami, who was not known to let the murukkucrumble, that “looks East” now after having set exotic regions of the world like the American Midwest awash in Carnatica.

Renuka Narayanan is presently the Director of the Indian Cultural Centre, Bangkok. Mail her at shebaba09@gmail.com

Courtesy: The Hindu

Demand for separate ministry for Telugu

HYDERABAD: MLC and educationist Chukka Ramaiah has appealed to the government to create a new ministry to protect and preserve the Telugu language, culture and civilisation in the State.

Talking with reporters here today, Ramaiah sought strict enforcement of GO 86 which make it mandatory for all schools in the State to teach Telugu as a language up to Class 10. ``The importance being given to the Telugu language by the government and its departments is going down with each passing day.

This is not the case with other languages.’’ The legislator demanded that all proceedings in district courts be conducted and copies of the verdicts made available in Telugu. ``Unless people openly express their love for their mother tongue, the government and political leaders will not show any concern for it,’’ he said.

The Telugu Bhashodyama Samakhya will observe the International Mother Tongue Day on Feb 21 as a `blackday’ in protest against the government’s neglect of the Telugu language. It will organise a dharna near Indira Park on that day.

Somala Ramesh Babu, president of the Samakhya, said it was the responsibility of the Telugu-speaking people across the world to preserve their language and culture.

Samakhya vice-president GS Varadachary and secretary Kaluva Mallaiah were present at the press conference.

Courtesy: ExpressBuzz

ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్ రాష్ట్ర అవతరణ దినోత్సవ శుభాకాంక్షలు

AP govt makes singing Telugu song mandatory in convent schools

Hyderabad , Oct 29 The Andhra Pradesh government today asked English medium convents in the state to render a song hailing Telugu culture without fail in the school assemblies in addition to the national anthem.

" Private convents should make children sing మా తెలుగు తల్లికి మల్లె పూదండ (Maa Telugu Talliki Malle Poodanda) song from henceforth," School Education Minister D Manikya Vara Prasad told reporters.

The government took the decision in the wake of a convent school in Kadapa district punishing two children for speaking in Telugu. Placards, with the words "I will never speak in Telugu" written on them, were hung around their necks as punishment.

The action of the school evoked strong protests from outfits working for promotion of Telugu.

The government's decision, however, was sharply criticised by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) that says the song "Maa Telugu Talliki" is against Telangana culture.

Courtesy: Indopia.in