I wrote the last article in 1996 at the time the TLCA celebrated its 25th Anniversary. The last ten years have brought more changes into the organization, its membership and the activities. Yet the thrust of the organization has not changed since its inception – to serve the Telugu Speaking people of grater New York area. It is considered as one of the pioneering organizations in the North America. Presidents change, Board of Trustees change and the activates remain essentially the same but mould themselves with the times. We now have a web site and the printed version of Telugu Velugu is no longer the norm. Food for the functions is catered through commercial places; it is now time to sponsor high priced singers, movie stars and the like; committee members correspond with each other thru e-mails, get together in restaurants for their meetings and so on – times have changed. The membership remains strong and with time we have more and more computer specialists who are seeking membership in the organization.
The following have served as Presidents of TLCA in the last ten years. Some of them have served longer than the normal term of one year.
TLCA has gone through a revival during the time of Dr. Paturi's term and Janki Rao kept up the pace of revival. During the next few years, the membership has increased and new Telugu immigrant population, particularly of the Information Technology (computer) specialty have started to come in to take more and more interest in the organization and its activities. TLCA is once again back to its normal strength in membership and attendance at regular functions has increased. This is also partly due to the quality of programs brought in by the organization. The Presidents who are the head of the Executive Committee need to be congratulated for this. New and innovative methods have been used to attract membership attendance through boat rides with music, both for adults and children separately.
Amoing the highlights of TLCA's cultural and other activities it is worth mentioning the following. Well-known movie greats like Rajendra Prasad and Music directors like Patnaik and several prominent signers like Gangadhar, Vijayalakshmi have performed on the stage of TLCA during this time. Notable among the cultural activities are those of Ashtavadhanis, Graikapati Narasimha Rao and Nagaphani Sarma and the Historical 'Padya Natakam' by Gummadi Gopalakrishna and troupe and 'Vemana Padyams' by Swami Chidatmananda of Chinmaya Mission. Many Andhra Pradesh Political dignitaries have also been part of the TLCA attendees during this time including Andhra Chief Minister Honorable Nara Chandra Babu Naidu.
All in all I am happy to state that TLCA has been prospering well and I sincerely hope it will continue to grow and take care of the needs of the Telugu speaking people in the New York metropolitan region.
I wish to quote my earlier statement from 1996
"It has withstood the test of time and is poised to do even more in the years to come". Long Live TLCA.