Shiva Vishnu Temple of South Florida
Shiva Vishnu Temple 

Association of Kannada Kootas of America (AKKA)
AKKA
Bangalore
South Florida

February 20, 2008                                                                                     Download

 

Sankranthi Festival and Annual Picnic of 2008 held on Feb 16, 2008 at 11 am.

At Welleby Park , 11100 NW 44th Street , Sunrise , Florida 33351

On Makara Sankranthi day it is said that sun passes from one Zodiac sign to another.  Makara Sankranthi signifies two things – One is the changing path of Sun and other is the beginning of “Uttarayana Punyakaala” Makara literally means “Capricorn” and Sankranthi means “change” or ‘sankramaNa’ literally means ‘crossing’.

On this beautiful day with temperatures hovering around 74 degrees and low humidity as the members started coming in. A very warm welcome was accorded at the registration desk by offering “Ellu-Bella” for adults, balls for the kids and plush toys for babies. The pavilion at the park was decorated beautifully with Banner, streamers, balloons and melodious Kannada songs were played thorough out the event invoking nostalgic memories of back home. At full congregation there were about 100 members present. The attending members renewed their 2008 annual memberships with two families (Sujith-Lakshmi and Sunil-Sowmya) becoming Life Members of the Nandi Kannada Koota.

The programs kicked off with a welcome song by Sreeranjini. All the members introduced themselves for the benefit of all other members. You could experience the bond that connects the members that bring them together under this Koota. A good lot of young families attended and brought a joy to the entire atmosphere. The following are glimpses of events that members participated, enjoyed and had fun –

Rangole – About 15 ladies of all ages participated in the Rangole competition. The Rangole was drawn both with dots style and free hand style. Ragini Dharmappa and Padmaja Govindraj officiated the competition and awarded the top three prizes. First Prize went to Pratibha Joshi, Second Prize went to Bharathi Shiva and the Third prize went to Sowmya Gundmi.

www.NandiKannadaKoota.com - website was launched by two youngest additions of our Kannada Koota, Dhruv Basavanahalli (son of Srikanth and Ranjini) and Shreya Anand (daughter of Anand and Priya) are 3 months old. They launched by typing in the full website url address www.nandikannadakoota.com into Internet Explorer. Are you kidding me? Yes I was they both just touched the keypad. You can catch the glimpses of all the events in our Album section.

Snacks, Lunch & Drinks – A delicious spread of snacks, lunch catered by Udipi Restaurant. A fresh brew of Coffee and cold drinks were served. Members enjoyed the food. Later in the evening Smores (Marsh mellow toasted in the open camp fire & served with chocolate and graham crackers) were served to members.

Sports – What’s an event without cricket were young and old men were involved in this passionate game. Ladies were equally engrossed in playing Kho-Kho, lemon and spoon. Kids were busy flying the kites, sack race, musical chairs, face painting.

Music & Dance – Melodious Kannada songs were played on the boom box. Members sang few beautiful songs. To toast the event off all the Kids and Adults danced to dome heart throbbing dance music.

Everybody departed tried and happy with lot of good memories. Please checkout the photos on our own www.nandikannadakoota.com website.

See you at the next event. Stay Tuned.  -  NKKSF Team