Telangana’s traditional festival the festival Flowers ‘Bathukamma’
celebrated with much enthusiasm and gaiety at the Telangana Bhavan here On Wednesday. A large number of Telangana families residing in New Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) and the neighboring Ghaziabad (of UP) joined the festivities. Women assembled from the morning itself to prepare ‘Bathukammas’ the floral arrangement offering tributes to Gods and Goddesses and performed the dances.
The flowers required, like ‘Gunugu, Thangedu, Chamanti, Banti, Gummad, and Gaddi’, were procured from in and around Delhi, including the ridge area with special permission from
the Delhi government. The surroundings of the Telangana Bhavan reverberated to the ‘Bathukamma’ tunes while women dressed in silks and finery and children in their lehenga – cholis’ introduced the quintessence of Telangana culture to the Delhiites and other northerners.
The attempts of the State government to promote and popularise Bathukamma as a national festival succeeded to a large extent with tremendous interest being generated in the same due to the vision of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and the efforts of the Department of Tourism, Telangana State, and Telangana Bhavan.
Telangana students of various institutions in and around the National Capital Region (NCR) thronged the venue to take part in the festivities. North Indians who witnessed the traditional celebrations were seen asking people of Telangana origin the meaning and the purpose of the festival.
On Wednesday, as the Telangana Bhavan reverberated to the scintillating “Bathukamma, Bathukamma Uyyalo” songs, several North Indian women joined their Telangana counterparts in dancing to the tune of traditional Bathukamma songs.
As per directions of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, the government is distributing sarees in colorful designs to the women in the State on the occasion of every Bathukamma festival after the formation of separate Telangana. Like in the State Bathukamma sarees with gold and silver zari work were distributed to all the women participants today. Telangana government hosted ‘Telangana Ruchulu’ a dinner consisting of typical Telangana and Dakhani dishes to the guests.
Telangana Tourism and Culture Minister V.Srinivas Goud attend the program as chief guest, Special Representatives to the government of Telangana at New Delhi Mandha Jagannadham, K.M Sahni, Principal Secretary for Tourism and Culture Sandeep Kumar Sulthania, Telangana Bhavan Resident Commissioner Dr. Gaurav Uppal and other officials were present on the occasion.
