The Chicago Telugu Association (CTA) and North America Telugu Society (NATS) together have conducted Gandhi Jayanthi Celebrations in Chicago from 4:00pm to 7:00pm on Saturday October 05th 2013 at Velachamy Auditorium in Sri Venkateswara Swamy (Balaji) temple of Greater Chicago, Aurora. This event is co-sponsored by Balaji Temple.

The event was started by remembering the Great Leader Mahatma Gandhi with a presentation by CTA Board of Director Praveen Moturi.

The special attraction of the evening came from the dance performances by Deepa Academy for the differently​abled artists from India. The dance group led by R.Swaminathan and accompanied by 6 visually impaired girl dancers Gulabsha, G.V.Lathamani, K.R.Pallavi, K.Rashmi, Suma.R, and Sowmya S.J and well trained and choreographed by teachers Shweta.V and KavyaShree. N. The dance performances given by the dancers mesmerized the crowd.

It was visual feast to the audience to see the girls who are differently abled can coordinate and perform the dances flawlessly.

The entire 3 hours was filled with spell bound performances involving 3 Bharathanatyam performance, 2 Kathak Performance and 5 folk Dances.

The performances included 1).MALLARI- BHARATHANATYAM DEPICTING FLORAL TRIBUTES TO THE DEITY,2).SHAT CHAKRA – BHARATHANATYAM DEPICTING THE AWAKENING OF THE SIX CHAKRAS OF THE BODY, 3) PRABHANDH- KATHAK PERFORMANCE,4) THILLANA – CONCLUDING ITEM OF BHARATHANATYAM. RENDITION IN PRAISE OF LORD NATARAJA,5) TRIWAT- KATHAK PERFORMANCE,6) KOLLATA – FOLK DANCE FROM KARNATAKA AND ANDRA PRADESH,7) KAMSALE- FOLK DANCE OF INTERIOR KARNATAKA,8) PRAHARANA PRANAM : DEPICTION OF MARTIAL ARTS THROUGH DANCE,9) PRAHARANA PRANAM : FOLK DANCE OF KARNATAKA,10) BHANGRA- FOLK DANCE OF PUNJAB DEPICTING THE HARVEST SEASON.

Group Coordinator R.Swaminathan elaborated about objectives of Deepa academy and how the academy works for the Empowerment of visually challenged girls and other differently abled persons through quality education and promote the overall development of the visually challenged girls and fostering an effective teaching/learning environment and to bring them to mainstream of the community. He thanked CTA and NATS for sponsoring the event and NATS Board of Director Ravi Achanta who has been staunch supporter for the organization from 2010.

CTA President Srinivas Boppana thanked Deepa Academy and artists for the performances and emphasized that CTA always supports and encourages the cultures and community activities. He thanked the Program Coordinator Nagendra Vege and Murthy Koppaka who worked tirelessly to make sure the event is successful. He thanked Balaji temple Management Usha Pariti, Sudhakara Singavarapu and special thanks to Harinath Koneru, Chairman Balaji temple for co-sponsoring the event and for providing the Balaji temple auditorium facility for the evening and supporting the girls.

A special recognition by CTA was given to Miss Sanjana Manne who understood the cause and voluntarily collected donations for the girls by applying the Mehndi to event attendees. The event was anchored by Akhila Vuppalapati.

CTA Vice President Murthy Koppaka presented the Vote of thanks to all members, attendees, donors, sponsors, and Deepa Academy for making the event memorable. He thanked the CTA Executive Committee Ramesh Marayala, Sridhar Mumgandi, Vara Prasad Bodapati, Naga Chillapalli, Rao Achanta, Sujana Achanta, Praveen Moturi, Madan Pamulapati and Subba Rao Putrevu for organizing the event. He also thanked to Srinivas Narshimulu who captured the evening with his lens and supporting the event with his photos.