Calcutta:

An association for Telugus in Calcutta, formed in 1936, is celebrating its existence for 1,000 full moons according to the Telugu calendar, an occasion known as Sahasra Purna Chandrodaya.

The Andhra Association Calcutta was set up to give Telugus a feeling of home away from home.

Sahasra Purna Chandrodaya is an occasion Telugus celebrate if they see 1,000 moons in a lifetime, an association official said.

“Our association has completed 1,000 full moons and we will celebrate the occasion. For us Telugus, seeing 1,000 full moons is an auspicious occasion,” Srinivas Vedula, president of the association, said.

“In Telugu families anyone living for 1,000 full moons thinks it to be a new life. If one’s spouse is alive, partners exchange garlands like a second wedding.”

Established in September 1936, the Andhra Association Calcutta is now 81 years old. The difference in food, culture and language prompted Telugus in the city to form the association.

Vadlamani Venkatesham Pantulu, an engineer working in Port Trust, had set up the association.

President Vedula said several Telugus approached Pantulu after which the engineer took a place on rent in Bhowanipore and turned it into a hostel for Telugus. “Here, people used to get food cooked the way they would get at home. Besides, interacting with fellow Telugus gave them a feeling of home.”

Even now the association directs people who approach them to places where they can get Telugu food or people. Yet at the same time, members mingle with people from other states so that they don’t remain exclusive without any contact with people from other cultures, Vedula said.

“During cultural programmes, we have Rabindrasangeet as well,” an association member said.

There are about 100,000 Telugus in Calcutta and a large number of them working in the IT sector in Salt Lake and New Town.

Andhra Pradesh has been split into two states but people from both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are members of the association. “It’s an association of Telugu people and not of people from a state,” Vedula said.

The current building that houses the association’s office on Pratapaditya Road has the Andhra Association High School, where Telugus are a minority. “We have about 1,000 students and about a dozen of them are Telugus,” a member said.

source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph,Calcutta,India / Home> Calcutta / by Subhajoy Roy / September 03rd, 2018