A great performance “DrishTi” unraveled in front of our eyes this afternoon at Infinite Energy Center.
An entertaining opening by emcee Jayakiran Pagadala whose grip over several Indian languages made all regional audiences from India feel settled in setting the right note.
The roll ups related to several programs Sankara Nethralaya has in its radar along with Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s AI revolution and how it is leveraged in detecting diabetic retinopathy were thought provoking. Google is partnering with Sankara Nethralaya hospitals.
Atlanta Trustee Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli & President Bala Reddy Indurti addressed the audience before the Bharata Naatyam program and discussed about Sankara Nethralaya fundraiser events in different cities in USA and service activities in India. Program was celebrated at Infinite Energy Center in Atlanta USA on Sunday September 8th.
When the dance drama unfolded on the stage, I wondered how the very talented guru Padmaja Kelam garu and her team were going to relate it to cause of Sankara Nethralaya.
The way Hasini character loses eye sight and the way she revokes her passion towards dance in spite of dearth of vision and message towards the end that inner senses have no boundaries and inability to see hardly matters when you pursue your passion were heart warming.
This connection establishment was awesome and what a terrific performance by the artist who played Hasini.
Our heartfelt congratulations to Padmaja Kelam, Siddartha Kelam and team of children who worked so hard to make this happen. lyrics by Dr Uma Eyyuni & composed by Asha Ramesh.
We heard from one of the audiences outside how he couldn’t control his tears seeing the performance of girl who played Hasini.
DrishTi program is conceptualized & directed by Padmaja Kelam and written by Siddarth, performed with live orchestra with 700 plus spellbound audience. Padmaja Kelam’s disciple Priyanka Kasula played Hasini.
Drishti signifies much more than the literal meaning. It’s about the awakening of our inner humanity and care for others.
The external beauty that we see with our eyes is temporary and does bring short term joy. Anthar drishti or the inner sight, on the other hand, invokes the highest pleasure or bliss in all of us.
Fundraising team led by Bala Reddy Indurti, Moorthy Rekapalli, Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Rajasekhar Reddy Aila, Meher Lanka, JayaKiran Pagadala, Padmaja Kelam, Upendra Reddy Rachupally, Ramesh Chaparala, Rajeev Menon, Suresh Vemulamada & Neelima Gaddamanugu raised $200,000 to support 3000 indigent patients. Bala Indurti dedicated this victory to Atlanta Chapter founder Dr. Seshu Sarma who has been moved to Washington DC to stay with grand children.
Thanks are due to Atlanta team members Krishnadas Pisharodi, Srikrupa Easwaran, Phani Dokka, Uma Narayan, Raghava Tadavarthi, Kamal Satuluru, Namrata Satuluru, Rajesh Tadikamalla, Ramesh Valluri, Venkat Chundi, Ravi Kandimalla, Subba Rao Maddali, Ram Mallappa, Swadesh Katoch, Viju Chiluveru, Niranjan Prodduturi & ByteGraph for their continuous support and hard work to this event.
Thanks are due to MESU (Mobile Eye Surgical Unit) donors: Moorthy Rekapalli & Madhavi and Aniil Jagralmudi & Mahalakshmi. Main purpose of MESU is to eradicate preventable blindness in India. Initially we are planning the MESU for Telugu states and eventually we want to replicate the same model all over the country.
Thanks are due to the following Adopt-A-Village donors: Mulri Reddy & Bindu, Dr. Sanjeeva Reddy & Sridevi, Suresh Vemulamada & Dr. Madhavi Rayapudi, Srinivas Surapaneni & Priya, Srini Reddy Vangimalla & Deepa, Prasad Mallu & Niveditha, Ravi Reddy Maraka & Praveena, and Balakrishna Nuli.
Thanks are due to Atlanta local associations TAMA, GATA, GATeS, GAMA, GATS, IFA, Maitri & Atlanta Telugu Samskriti for spreading the word in weekly broadcast news.
SN team also recognized community leaders and philanthropists Dr. BK Mohan & Rajyalaxmi, Pramod Sajja & Pratima, TR Reddy & Niranjini, Dr. G.S. Visvesvara, Veena Bhat for their support since inception of Atlanta chapter.
Mr. S V Acharya, President Emeritus and founder of Sankara Nethralaya OM Trust expressed regret for his inability to attend the event. He conveyed his message to Atlanta audience over phone thanking for their long term support and making Atlanta chapter one of the most active chapters in US.
He also thanked the Trust President Mr. Bala Reddy Indurti for spearheading this event with support from Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli, trustees Srini Reddy Vangimalla, Rajasekhar Reddy Aila, Meher Lanka, JayaKiran Pagadala, volunteers, Kalavani Academy & Atlanta community to make this as a memorable event in the history of the Trust in USA.