On Saturday, October 20, TAJA organised a Free "two in one concert" at the Jacksonville Country Day School located at the intersection of Baymeadows Road and Southside Blvd.

The event was kicked off with the presentation of prizes to the winners of sport events that were held in August. The Ghantasla Aradhanotsavam followed immediately where the audience was treated to a medley of melodious songs from the great singer's era. As Vegesna foundation gave a presentation about their activites, the audience responded with gusto. Donations made that evening alone totalled to nearly $12000!!

A brief snack (courtesy of Red Chillies restaurant) break later, it was time for the next part of the concert to begin. At the start of the second session, TAJA recognized one of its members Bharath Muthyala for taking the initiative and conducting the Astronomy workshop for the local children during their summer break earlier this year. and then, Dr. Ghazal Srinivas took center stage. He literally took control of the entire audience and then proceeded to enthrall the audience with his unique style of ghazal rendition. His selection of ghazals were centered more around the natural yearning that we have for our motherland and our family members whom we had left behind in our pursuit of 'greener' pastures. His Ghazals reminded us of and brought us close to our dear motherland and left us yearning for more. All his Ghazals narrated the day to day life, love for the motherland, love for the mother and the valuable relationships we cherish with our family as well as extended family.

Dhanyavaadamulu! To all those who could make it, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your presence at TAJA dual concerts "Ghantasala Aaradhanostavam" and "Ghazal Srinivas". You beat our expectations and more than 300 people attended the concerts.

Another thank you goes out to all those who donated to Vegesna Foundation. There were apprehensions as to how much donation can be raised for Vegesna from the Jax area which has a 'small footprint' when compared to many other centers in the US. But any such doubts were soon put to rest as the donations came in the form of a deluge from the audience, thus proving that our big hearts more than make up for our (relatively) small presence in the Jax area. Thanks to you, Vegesna could raise close to $12,000; this being the second highest amount that Vegesna has raised during this season.

Many enjoyed the golden oldies and famous songs of the Late Ghantasala. We even had the opportunity to listen to a couple of "Padyalu" (poems) from Sri Venunadha Rao Muddapu, a current resident of the Jacksonville area. Dr. Ghazal Srinivas proved "Telugu Ghazals" are not scary with his melodius rendering of Telugu Ghazals that touched the hearts of everybody in the audience. We just cannot thank him enough for this out of the world experience.

We are thankful to our sponsors: Prudential Financial, Redchilies Restaurant and Teluguone. Check out what Teluguone had to say about this concert.

With your support, we at TAJA will continue to strive to bring you excellent events. If you have any suggestions or concerns, please let us know. Email us or call us at 904 63-Tazaa.

| Special event 2007 | 20 October 2007 | Photo Gallery |

The men's Tennis event is currently underway. Our sports coordinator Vasudeep is organizing this event. He came up with a great proposal to have the schedule worked around the availability of the players and so far, he has been able to have the league stage games almost completed. Needless to say, it can be very taxing to organize such a format and we would like to thank Vasu for the efforts he has been putting into this tournament. The bowling tournament for ladies was held on Sunday November 11.

As usual, in keeping with the holiday spirit, TAJA is planning humanitarian events for December. The Southeast branch of the Jacksonville Library and Daniels kids have both expressed interest and have been shortlisted by TAJA as potential beneficiaries this year. The events themselves are being held on Saturday Dec 8 (at the Jax Library Southeast branch) and Saturday Dec 15 (at Daniels kids). We will let you know about the exact timings.

Come January, and it will be time for the Sankraanthi event. Yes, we are already in the planning mode for the Sankraanthi event. We have scheduled this event for Sunday January 13.

Sometime in December, you will receive a copy of the revised constitution and by-laws by email. We ask you to carefully go over the document and give us your valuable suggestions. And more importantly, all current members will be able to vote on these documents. As per the TAJA constitution, the changes have to be ratified and agreed to by atleast 2/3rd of the current members.

As TAJA was gearing up for the Free two for one musical concert, a couple of our members, Srinivas Miryala and Keerthi Chekkila came forward to organize a potluck and to celebrate the Bathukamma panduga during Navarathri. An email was quickly composed and was sent out to all TAJA members. TAJA would like to congratulate both Miryala and Chekkila families for conceiving and bringng this event to fruition in such a short duration. On their behalf, TAJA would also like to thank everybody who helped them organize this event.

October 13, 2007. Almost the whole day was spent in the preparation of the goddess in the form of Bathukamma/gouramma/boddemma and in preparing food/gathering supplies etc.. As the evening approached around 175 parents and kids headed to the freedom commerce community hall in their best traditional attire. The organizers talked about the origins of bathukamma festival and it's importance in spirituality. The festivities began with the 'bathukamma bathukamma vuyyalo' song and lasted for three hours. Home made food brought by participants was delicious. Many participants said it brought their childhood memories back and were very delighted watching their children get involved and participate in the festivities. The day ended with a surprise for some of the active participants, gifts were handed out to two singers Shantha, Swapna and to four people who prepared the bigger Bathukamma - Pallavi, Navya, Saritha and Sripriya. Finally the women folk offered prayers to gouramma asking for prosperity and health; the 'Prasadam' was distributed and bathukkamma was immersed in the water.

Details of this event made it to the vernacular press in India and you can access some snippets here and here. In case you are looking for some visuals, here are some photos.

Are you someone who cannot stand those long lines for the Black Friday sales, but would like to somehow get in on those "once in a year" deals? Well, if you have not yet been looking out, it is still not too late to start looking now! As I have mentioned last year, there are a few websites that have already posted the deals that are going to be available on Black Friday. Sites like fatwallet and slickdeals have specific sections set aside for the purpose while there are other sites like BFADS that cater exclusively to Black Friday and holiday related deals.

Like last year, expect retailers to start posting online only deals. This year, some retailers like Wal*mart have attempted to extend the holiday selling period by putting up sales from as early as the beginning of November itself. Follow one of the sites above, and you maybe able to latch onto great deals from the comfort of your home!

In keeping with the spirit of the holidays, the TAJA Nelapatrika will not be published in December. The next issue will be out in January 2008 to herald the new year with all of you. In the meantime, please have a safe holiday, travel safely and celebrate salefy. And yes, a very happy New Year 2008 to all of you on behalf of TAJA!