Berhampur: The Telugu community celebrated ‘Sankranti Sambaraalu’ with a Pongal flavour in Berhampur of Odisha’s Ganjam district amid fun and frolic on Monday.
The celebration, organised under the aegis of Andhra Bhashabhivardhani Samajam (ABS), was attended by members of about 50 literary, music, social and cultural organisations of Telugu community.
‘Sankranti Sambaraalu’ is a traditional harvesting festival. The delicious ‘Pongali’, prepared with newly harvested rice, dal, jaggery, dry fruits, sugar and milk, is capped with Pongal on a sweet note.
While 80 lakh people in Odisha are Telugu, 50% of 4.15 lakh population in Berhampur belong to the community. The Telugus in Ganjam have also commenced their own brand of Sankranti celebrations from today with spectacular rangolis, crackling bonfires and colourful cultural shows.
While the first day of the festival was celebrated as ‘Bhogi’ on January 13, the second day would be celebrated as ‘Pongal’ or Makar Sankranti. ‘Kanuma’ on January 15 and ‘Mukknam’ on January 16.
The Telugu people wearing new dresses greeted each other with ‘Happy Pongal’ on the occasion while Odia people joined them in the celebrations. The entire place was decorated with colourful rangolis to celebrate Sankranti Sambaraalu or the Pongal celebration. They performed ‘Bhogi’ with ‘Gobbammalu’, said Berhampur MLA K Anil Kumar who is also the chairman ‘Sankranti Sambaraalu’ Coordination Committee.
Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi, Berhampur MP, famous south Indian actor P Sai Kumar and Mavuri Venkata Ramana, MD CMR Shopping Mall participated in the celebration.
While the morning celebration was organised at Prakasam Hall, a cultural event will be held at Saraswati Sishu Vidya Mandir Playground Neelakantha Nagar in the evening.
