Amma's 75th Birthday Celebrations at Abhyasa

Wow...!!! What an Amazing Day it was at Abhyasa -the. 11th September 2019 - a day full of activity and festive buzz on the Campus. The day was packed with activities and events, of course not at the cost of regular academic schedule. Students were excited about the day right from the start. The POOKALAM COMPETITIONS for celebrating Onam began after lunch. (Pookalam means Artwork with flowers). There was a tough competition among the three houses Shiva, Shakti and Sarvaa houses . There were two other teams competing- Aalingana and Academic Groups, the teachers of academic group.

The members of the Kalleetla family arrived for Amma's 75th Birthday Celebrations and the Shashtipurti of our beloved Vinaayak Sir's parents. The guests of honour were received with great love and affection. The program started after a small puja Ceremony with live classical music at the Vishnu Temple inside the Campus.After this the guests were taken in a procession to the venue of the programme- Priyanka's Play pe n the amphitheatre.

Vinaayak sir of course role model and source of inspiration for every Abhyasasite in every way. But who shaped this great personality? Who else , but his parents (Padmavathi garu & Rangadasu garu ?). The story of the great Kalleetla family was narrated in an audio visual show followed by welcome dances and songs. The story brought alive the journey of life of Amma Padmavathi garu,right from her childhood, her wedding with Sri Rangadasu garu and her role in shaping the lives of her three children, including our beloved Vinaayak sir.

An ancient Indian tradition of "Thulabharam" was conducted, in which provisions- rice, pulses, jaggery, ghee and coins, equal to the weight of Padmavathi Ammagaru were kept on one side of the scale and madam herself on the other.This ritual was an added attraction to the birthday celebration. It is usually performed to ward of ailments of the person and the things used would be used for poor feeding, an act of charity. This was preceded by the colourful and grand Shashti Poorti celebrations (A wedding vow -renewal ceremony is a ceremony in which a married couple renew or reaffirm their marriage vows) an action replay for all us to see and enjoy as we were not present at the time of their wedding ceremony, about sixty years ago.

Amma's 75th Birthday celebrations were carried on with a festive spirit ever to be remembered by everybody, who made it a point to take the blessings from Padmavathi garu and Rangadasu garu. The the program ended with a Mangala Harathi.

We are all immensely blessed to have been part of this divine and traditional celebration, which of-course had its modern touch of cake cutting and dinner.