Saraswati Gana Sabha of Kakinada, marked the end of a year-long celebration of its centenary on 12 October 2004.

Saraswati Gana Sabha had invited Governor of Tamil Nadu, P. S. Ramamohan Rao, as the Chief Guest for this celebration. Addressing the specially invited gathering in Telugu, the Governor congratulated the sabha for keeping alive the culture of India. He drew parallels and traced the affinity between East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh and Thanjavur District in Tamilnadu. Both these districts were part of the combined Madras State for a longtime, and were ruled by the Chola Kings of yore.

While the East Godavari District was the cradle of modern Telugu, with Nannayya Bhattu being the standard bearer, Thanjavur District was the home of the Carnatic Music Trinity with Thyagaraja as the pathfinder. He referred to the December Season in Chennai where 72 Sabhas organize some 5000 kutcheris and performances over a period of 15 to 30 days.

He hoped that Andhra Pradesh will emulate its neighbour in this respect to promote these classical arts. Indirectly referring to those who addressed the gathering in English, he touched on the 'Sangam' literature, the revival of Tamil as a Classical Language and said everyone should be proud of their mother tongue and endeavour to speak in that language for the understanding of the common man.

Jawahar Reddy, the District Collector, observing that the audience was mostly older generation said that no effort should be spared to bring in younger generation into the fold, for the survival of the organization in a new century.

The meeting was followed by a saxophone concert by G.Ramanathan, a disciple of Kadri Gopalnath. His renditions included Vatapi Ganapathi (Hamsadhwani), Endaro Mahanubhavulu (Sriragam), Nanati Bratuku (Revati), Siva Sivayanarada (Pantuvarali), Nagumomu Galavani (Abheri), Maanasa Sancharare (Sama) and several others. A. Venkata Subramanyam (violin), Trivandrum Rajagopal (mridangam), and S. Sankar (kanjeera) accompanied him.

Contact: Saraswati Gana Sabha, 15-7B/4, Venkataratnapuram,Kakinada, AP 533 001, India.