BKM Celebrates 2016 Pongal with a Mega Kids/Youth Talent Show

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By Vivek Natarajan
HOUSTON: BKM(Bharathi Kalai Manram, a forty year old Houston organization dedicated to the promotion of literature and performing arts of Tamil speaking people from India celebrated Pongal, the traditional harvest and thanksgiving festival of Tamilnadu at the Meenakshi Temple in Pearland on Saturday, January 23.

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The Pongal festival provides a platform for children to perform. It serves as a great event to ensure the transmission of the culture from one generation to another. The children (with some parental involvement) embraced this event with enthusiasm. There were a total of about 55 performances involving 200 plus kids ranging from ages 5 to 15 and total program time of more than five hours. The kids ranged from tiny tots to teens and all of the displayed a very passionate sense of involvement and dedication to their chosen performance. The items performed ranged from Tamil Thai recitation to Bharatanatyam dances beautifully choreographed to contemporary dances to popular Tamil (Kollywood) numbers. The performances can be described as energetic and enthusiastic. The BKM committee lead by Cultural director Ravi Sethuraman, Joint Treasurer Priya Chandru, Communications Director Senthil Arcot and Pongal program team of Dr. Vijaya Ramachandran, Kuzhali Arcot, and Vyjayanthi Vivek deserve a round of congratulations for their attention to detail, meticulous programming, and keeping the program on clock.

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The outgoing committee for 2014 led by President Sridhar Srinivasan was felicitated on the occasion. Then all the teachers of the Tamil school were felicitated for their hard work and service. Then, Incoming President Tupil Narasiman then introduced his team for 2016. Narayanan, chairman of Meenakshi Temple Society spoke and congratulated BKM for putting up a great event. BKM also felicitated Seshadri Kumar of India Herald for his yeoman service to the Houston community. The event concluded with a tradition South Indian dinner including the traditional Pongal that was catered by Annam Restaurant. The attendees left with a happy heart and with eagerness for the next Pongal event.