A home calling for overseas Telugus

Around 200 Telugus settled abroad will visit Tirupati for the second World Telugu Conference (WTC) to be held from December 27 to December 29. The delegates hail from diverse geographies of the world including Japan, Germany, Australia, a 108 strong delegation from Malaysia and a 70-member team from Burma.

Of the 5,261 delegates who had registered till the last day of the conference, nearly 1,000 attendees belong to other states. Over 3,800 artistes will be performing at the event in various cultural programmes.

Many of the foreign delegates are first time visitors to their ancestral land. “We want our children to learn more about the culture and around 80 per cent of the 108-member team are youngsters who will reconnect to their homeland,” said Dr. Achaiah Kumar Rao, president of the Telugu Association of Malaysia addressing a press conference at Ravindra Bharathi on Wednesday.

Some of the youngsters in the delegation will render a Kuchipudi dance ballet and a bhajan during three-day conference, showcasing the culture of the state.

“We want the children of expatriates to learn their mother tongue and have started a programme in collaboration with the Potti Sreeramulu Telugu University in Hyderabad to train around 30 teachers in Malaysia, who can teach children in weekends. The Malaysian government has also given us a grant of `1.5 crore to initiate the programme,” said the president of TAM.

The conference is open to general public and preparations have been on way for the beautification of the venue which has been shifted to Venkateswara Veterinary University grounds to accommodate a larger audience.

Union ministers from the state have confirmed their participation at the conference. However, the guest list is yet to be announced.