‘Sankranti Sambaralu’ celebrated

Berhampur: Andhra Bhashabhivardhani Samajam (ABS) and about 50 Telugu social, literary and cultural organisations celebrated ‘Sankranti Sambaralu’ with a Pongal flavour.

Cine artiste of South India P Sai Kumar, popularly known as ‘Dialogue King,’ joined the celebrations at Prakasam Hall here on Sunday.

Sai Kumar, who has reigned in South Indian films for the last half-a-century, has been brought up in Berhampur. His wife Surekha is also a native of Berhampur. Sai Kumar attended the festival as the guest of honour, delivered some of his popular film dialogues to the Telugu people who cheered him.

The Telugu people greeted one another on the occasion and Odias too joined them in the celebrations. The entire place was decorated with colourful ‘rangolis’ to celebrate Sankranti Sambaralu or the Pongal celebration. They performed ‘Bhogi’ with ‘Gobbammalu’.

‘Sankranti Sambaralu’ is a traditional harvesting festival to enlighten the younger generation. The delicious ‘Pongali’, prepared with newly harvested rice, dal, jaggery, dry fruits, sugar and milk, capped Pongal on a sweet note.

The Telugus in Ganjam have also started their own brand of Sankranti celebrations from Saturday with spectacular rangolis, crackling bonfires and colourful cultural shows.

While the first day of the festival was celebrated as ‘Bhogi’ on January 14, the second day would be celebrated as ‘Pongal’ or Makar Sankranti, ‘Kanuma’ on January 16 and ‘Mukknam’ on January 17.

Berhampur MP Chandra Sekhar Sahu, MLA Bikram Kumar Panda, Mayor Sanghamitra Dalei and State Planning Board member Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik also attended the ‘Sankranti Sambaralu.’