Date : Apr 23rd 2011, Saturday Time : 3:00 pm to 9:30 pm. Venue: Mahatma Gandhi Center 725, Weidman Rd, Ballwin, MO

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1 President Kantharaju, Sunil Gururaj, Madhuri Vice-President Sharma, Vinayaka Hukeri, Anupama Secretary Sanjeeva, Nagendra Joshi, Katyayini Treasurer Upadhya, Srilatha Koodalupati, Roopashree Vittal, Karthik Kiran Venue: Mahatma Gandhi Center 725, Weidman Rd, Ballwin, MO Date : Apr 23rd 2011, Saturday Time : 3:00 pm to 9:30 pm

2 Ugadi Habba: Ugadi is the Hindu New Year. It is believed that the Lord Brahma started the work of creation on this day - Chaitra shuddha padhyami or Ugadi day. Also the great Indian Mathematician Bhaskaracharya's calculations proclaimed this day as the start of a New Year, new month and new day from sunrise. Ugadi is celebrated with festive fervor in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The people of Maharashtra term the same festival, observed on the same day as Gudi Padwa. Sindhis, people from Sindh, celebrate the same day as their New Year day Cheti Chand. Manipuris also celebrate their New Year (Sajibu Cheiraoba) on the same day. It is observed as Baisakhi in Punjab and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu. Celebration in Karnataka: Ugadi is a big festival for Kannadigas as this is the first festival of the New Year. Preparations for the festival begin a week ahead. Houses are given a thorough wash. Shopping for new clothes and buying other items that go with the requirements of the festival are done with a lot of excitement. On Ugadi day, people wake up before the break of dawn and get an Abhyanjana Snana (The head bath taken after massaging the entire body using sesame oil). The fronts of the houses are decorated with colorful rangoli (powder art with colors) and the doors are decorated with beautiful toranas made of mango leaves. Once all these are done people perform pooje. During the pooje Panchanga Shravana (reading the new calendar) is done which is the most important part of Ugadi celebrations. The beginning of the new Panchanga tells us the current Vedic time since Brahma created the present universe. The Panchanga Shravana involves reading of Tithis (important dates) during the year and ends with a forecast for various sectors of the social life and the strengths and effects of various constellations and their transitions. The scriptures state that the benefits reaped by the listener as well as the reader, are equivalent to having a dip in the holy river Ganga. Once Panchanga Shravana is completed, Bevu Bella (mixture of neem flower and jaggery) is offered to God as naivedya. Bevu Bella represents the happiness and sorrows in our lives and eating Bevu Bella together shows that people should try to take happiness and sorrows equally without discrimination. Kannadigas prepare very delicious dishes for Ugadi which includes holige, kosambari, paayasa, chitranna etc. On the next day of Ugadi, Kannadigas celebrate the varushadodaku which is also an important day of the year. It s believed that if people do good things on varushadodaku, they will continue their good deeds throughout the year.

3 Vedic Timeline: Lord Chaturmukha Brahma has a life span of 100 years. His life span is called Para. In that poorvardha (50 years) has been completed. In uttarardha (remaining 50 years) first day of the first month of the first year is called Shweta Varaha Kalpa. In this first day, 13 ghatikas and 24 phalas have passed. 1 Mahayuga = Kriti, Treta, Dwapara, Kaliyuga, 71 Mahayugas = 1 Manvantara 14 Manvantaras = 1 Kalpa (1 Kalpa is Chaturmukha Brahma s one day and he will have equal amount of nights) 360 Kalpas = Chaturmukha Brahma s 1 year. In this day ( Shweta Varaha Kalpa ) of Chaturmukha Brahma, 6 Manvantaras have passed. Currently the 7 th Manvantara called Vyvatswata Manvantara is running. In this Vyvatswata Manvantara 27 Mahayugas have passed and 28 th Mahayuga is running. In 28 th Mahayuga of this Manvantara, Kriti, Treta and Dwapara have passed and Kaliyuga is running. Mahayuga Pramana (4 yugas together): 43 lakhs 20 thousand years (43, 20,000 years) Kritiyuga Pramana: 17 lakhs 28 thousand years (17, 28,000 years) Tretayuga Pramana: 12 lakhs 96 thousand years (12, 96,000 years) Dwaparayuga Pramana: 8 lakhs 64 thousand years (8, 64,000 years) Kaliyuga Pramana: 4 lakhs 32 thousand years (4, 32,000 years) In this Kaliyuga 5112 years have passed and 4, 26,888 years are yet to come. In this Kaliyuga there are 6 shakas as follows: Past Shakas: Yudhisthira Shaka: 3044 years Vikrama Shaka: 135 years Current Shaka: Shalivahana Shaka: years. Out of this currently 1933 years have passed and years are yet to come. Future Shakas: Vijayabhinandana Shaka: years Nagarjuna Shaka: years Kalkibhoopa Shaka: 821 years Each Yuga will have a cycle of 60 samvatsaras and current samvatsara is Kharanama Samvatsara which started from Ugadi. So the current Vedic time on the current Ugadi day is as follows: Adyabrahmanaha (present Brahma s) Dwiteeya Paradhye (2 nd half Para s) Shweta Varaha Kalpe (in first day of the first month of the first year) Vyvatswata Manvantare (in 7th Manvantara) Kaliyuge (in Kaliyuga) Shalivahana Shake (in Shalivahana Shaka) Kharanama Samvatsare (in Kharanama year), Chaitra Mase (1 st month of Chaitra) Shukla Pakshe (1 st fortnight) Prathama Thithihi (1 st day).

4 Message from Executive Committee: We are getting ready for our Ugaadi celebrations to have a grand finale for our organization s Silver Jubilee Year. Lots of Sangama members and their kids are practicing hard over a period of time by being involved with various cultural activities and are eager to showcase their talents on this day. The committee formed to accomplish the Snehada Sammilana with Sri Aravinda Upadhya, Sri Shrinivas Raman, Sri Vittal Bhat, Sri Hemanth Kumar and Smt. Jyothi Mysore is working hard coordinating with our neighboring Kannada Kootas to help us share our platform with them for cultural programs. These kinds of cultural program exchanges will help us learn from each other and help in keeping our organization vibrant and dynamic. We have vigorously pursued Go Green efforts this year and have taken all possible steps to make sure we are keeping all our members informed with the event notifications by using various electronic communication channels like Evite, facebook and SurveyMonkey to implement our vision of Going Green. To make this silver jubilee year a special year for community, we have had various events all through the year Kannada movie Manasaare, Ventriloquist show by Indushree, Nammura Jaatre which was a big hit in our community. We thank our community for giving us an opportunity and also helping & guiding us along the way to serve better while showing continued involvement with the organization. Each of the committee members has done the best in their capacity to guide the organization over the year. We hope each of you have enjoyed our volunteer efforts over the year. Our Best Wishes to incoming Committee for the next year and we request our community members to continue their support for the organization for many years to come and help to keep it vibrant and dynamic. About the past event/s: Sangama members welcomed the New Year 2011 with style and warmth on Friday, 31 st Dec 2010 evening at Creve Coeur Community hall. Sangama committee had a red carpet welcome with photo snap for families as they entered the banquet hall. Members will get these snaps in a frame during our upcoming Ugaadi celebration day. Members competed in rummy, chouka bhara and Aadarsha Dampatigalu. Big highlight of the event was un-doubtably enthralling live music and singing by Mr. Prasanna Kasthuri, Mrs. Seema Kasthuri, and Ms. Samanvitha. Prasanna and family came up with fresh new lyrics and compositions exclusively for New Year. This year, we had our General Body Meeting a month earlier than our Ugaadi celebrations to allow our member families to share their thoughts of what Sangama means to them and also allow our committee to focus on cultural activities during the Snehada Sammilana. Congratulations: It is with great pleasure we share the news that Kumari Anisha Gururaj finished first and won scholarship for her oration titled, Our Parent, the Constitution at the 74th American Legion Oratorical contest on April 17 th Please click here to watch her speech. Births: Sangama executive committee on behalf of all its members congratulates the following families who were blessed with a new member: Family New Born Kids Name Date Chandrashekar, Dattatri & Sushma Avani Jan 12 th, 2011 Jayaram, Sanjay and Vasudevamurthy, Meera Arnav March 24th, 2011

5 MENU FOR THE DAY We are catering food from a catering service for the event. Please come and be part of our organizations historical Snehada Sammilanna event.

6 Kids Corner: Map Coloring Project: Color the map of Karnataka and find in what districts you have your relatives and friends:

7 Pooje Tatte making project for Ugadi: Material: 3 thick paper plates, Tacky glue, any strong bonding glue (like E6000) any dark acrylic paint (not black), sequins, 1CD, small glass mirrors or large sequins, silk flowers, lace etc. (Deco Color paint pens & varnish sprayoptional) How to make: Step 1: Stick the 3 paper plates together with Tacky glue to make one sturdy plate. Step 2: Paint the plate with your favorite acrylic color on top and the same or contrast color underneath and let dry. Step 3: If you have varnish spray use it on the plate and let dry. Step 4: Stick the CD on the center of the plate with the strong bonding glue. Stick a big silk flower to cover the center of the CD. Develop a pattern around the CD using sequins, small flowers etc. Step 5: Use paint pens or use paint brush to decorate the plate for a festive look! Step 6: Glue lace around the rim of the plate. Step 7: The plate is ready!! You can place small Arishina Kunkuma Akshata containers on the CD while doing your Pooje!!

8 Event Date, Location and Timings: Venue: Mahatma Gandhi Center 725, Weidman Rd, Ballwin, MO Date : Apr 23rd 2011, Saturday Time : 3:00 pm to 9:30 pm * Schedule mentioned in the flyer is just a suggested timing and may vary due to various factors. * Please print only those pages that you feel necessary. Sangama Saint Louis Kannada Association is a registered not for profit organization. Sangama 515 Fortress Court Saint Charles, MO To: STL Sangama Families