Report by: Kavita Shetty

Boston (USA), Apr 8: On a recent rainy snow-covered evening, New England Tulu Koota (NETK) celebrated 'Suggida Koota' cultural get-together at Arthur J Clark Government Center Waltham, Boston USA. Tulu families got together to talk, laugh and be entertained just as a family gathers during dusk in their very own 'Illadha Chaavadi'.

The evening was a delightful one planned by a creative committee headed by Sudhakara Rao who was ably supported by committee members Puja Shetty, Frederick Fernandes, Prabhakara Bhat, Vivek Hegde, Bhaskar Sherigar, Aneesh Puttur, Raghu Kinnigoly and Suraj Shetty. This was the first indoor celebration of the fledgling association, New England Tulu Koota (NETK), Boston USA.

The event was inaugurated by lighting the 'deepa' (lamp) by Sudhakara Rao, president of New England Tulu Koota and Narayana Rao, retired professor, Stanford University and retired visiting professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Sudhakara Rao addressed the Koota with some thoughts on how the group started and how he hoped the group would gather in future events.

Bhavana Jain was the master of ceremonies for the evening, joined by Frederick Fernandes and Sathish Movvar who kept the audience breaking into guffaws with their wisecracks.

An invocational prayer "Aane Monedha Swamiye" by Shalini Shetty gave an auspicious start to the variety of entertainment items that followed. Her melodious voice reminded us of childhood summer days in Mangalore when we woke up to devotional songs in the morning to start a new day. She was accompanied by Rajesh Pai on the Tabla.

Frederick Fernandes, secretary, NETK welcomed all the guests with his inspiring words "Konkanyere, Brahmanere, Porbhule, Bantere, Maatha Tulu Bhandule, Tulu Bhashene Marepara Balli". This was followed by a series of performances.

Drithi Prasanna sang a beautiful song calling out "Krishna Baro, Ranga Baro". She was very convincing in appeasing Lord Krishna himself with her endearing voice. The next item was a dance to the popular beat "Party Tho Banti Hai" choreographed by Sneha Shetty, presented by Ahaan Shetty, Ayaan Hegde, Rihaan Shetty, Trisha Shetty, Aanya Shetty, Niyati Shetty, Akash Shetty, Arjun Hegde and Sneha Shetty. The song was a fast beat and the children did an awesome job to take the evening to the next level – a well done performance indeed.

Aryan Puttur played "Clocks" by Coldplay on the saxophone and Aadhya Puttur played the Michael Jackson Thriller on the Violin. Sucharitha Hegde, New England's own nightingale, brought in a little romance to the evening with a song from Tulu Naadu, "Mokyedha Singari Unthedhe Vayyari". Aneesh Puttur’s choreography brought out the spunk in another group of boys with a dance by Aryan Puttur, Rithvik Kinnigoly, Rishi Kinnigoly, Abhishek Sherigar and Aniketh Sherigar. The Hindi song, "Prathama Naman" based on Raag Bhupali by Nikita Kuve mesmerized the audience. It was followed by a song by Rishi accompanied by his father Raghu Kinnigoly on the tabla.

Raghavendra Kudrethaya gave a talk on "Tulu Swarasya". His talk highlighted events that took place in Dakshina Kannada during the good old days. The unique discourse in pure Tulu enlightened the audience.

Ritu Somayaji delighted the audience with her Bharatnatyam performance - a very graceful portrayal of "Shankara Shiva Gangadhara, Gowri Vadhana, Haasya Vadhana Madhana".

Vivek Hegde and Sudhir Prabhu hypnotized the audience by singing "Banigondhu elle ellidhe" the very lilting song of the movie "Premadha Kaanike", a happy tune that graced the radios at home in yesteryears.

Teenagers presented a beautiful dance medley "Dhol Masti". The Bollywood dance sequence was choreographed and performed by Esha Shetty, Neha Chandra and Sneha Shetty. Thr girls were amazing and exhibited pure perfection, so much so that their performance went encore.

Last but not the least was a beautiful folklore – celebrating Suggida Parba. The dance to a popular Tulu song "Denana Dennana" was performed by Kalpana Shetty, Sapna Shetty, Puja Shetty, Sowmya Aneesh, Shalini Shetty, Rashmi Kinnigoly, Ranjita Hegde and Shailashree Sherigar.

Master of ceremonies Bhavana Jain did a great job throughout the evening, putting quite a few anecdotes in Tulu and Kannada connecting the events and piecing them together and kept the audience glued to the seats.

One of the very entertaining parts of the event was introductions of families, some who were ready to be the next Toast Masters and some who were just up on the stage having a good laugh themselves. Suraj’s impromptu Tulu introduction was comical enough to be chosen as the best one among the funnies.

The programme concluded with a vote of thanks by Bhaskar Sherigar who thanked one and all for the efforts put together by the team, participants and the audience, to make the evening a great success.

Another highlight of the evening was food - a culmination of several Mangalurean delicacies. The evening had begun with an array of snacks prepared by some enthusiastic volunteers. There were several snack contributions; Mangaluru buns by Sudhakara and Usha Rao, "Sajjige Bajil" by Vivek and Ranjita Hegde, sweet potato "Podi" by Prabhakara and Vijaya Bhat.

The evening concluded with a tasty dinner with contributions from families including catered food. The main course contributions were mutton curry and "Manoli Batani" by Ashwin and Puja Shetty, "Chicken Sukka" by Krishna Prasad and Shalini Shetty. "Idli-Sambar and Chutney" was provided by Raghavendra Kudrethaya and Amrita. "Sambar" by Narayana and Shyamala Rao, "Pundi Chutney" and "Majjige" by Sudhakara and Usha Rao. The desserts included "Nendrabale Halwa" by Sudhakara and Usha Rao, "Pineapple Sheera" by Ramesh and Sucharitha Hegde and "Cracked Wheat Halwa" was provided by Suraj and Kavitha Shetty.

The evening was indeed a well-planned event by a very motivated group of committee members who each had a role in coordinating the events. The entertainment activities were very well planned by Puja Shetty who took special efforts in bringing out the best in every family. Aneesh Puttur handled the photography and video coverage was by Ashwin Shetty. Bhaskar Sherigar was very meticulous in paying attention to every detail of the event.