July 4, 2007

Telugu Community of Canada and NRI TDP hosted a grand reception and lunch to the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Sri. Nara Chandra Babu Naidu on July 2, 2007 at Payal Banquet hall, Mississuaga, Ontario, Canada. The venue was filled with hundreds of Telugites, Indians and Canadians. Mr. Chandra Babu naidu was welcomed by the committee members traditionally with youth chanting slogans "Chandrababu Zindabad" and "East or West, Babu is the best".

Mr. Naidu was first shown some statistics about Canada and its economic stature in present world in the reception lobby before he made his way inside the Banquet hall. The kids holding Indian and Canadian flags gave a warm Red Carpet welcome to Mr. Naidu in the hall where the eagerly waiting crowd got their first glimpse of the guest. Mr. Naidu was then introduced to some dignitaries including local ruling party Canadian-Indian MPPs and opposition party Canadian-Indian MPPs and UNICEF-Canada personnel. Mr. Naidu, Mr. Nagam Janardhan Reddy, Mrs. Nannapaneni Rajakumari and other dignitaries were welcomed on to the dais by the committee people. The meeting started with Power Point Presentation of NTR's achievement and his work towards the progress of the state and his pride for bringing Telugu speaking people distinction in the nation and around the world and later on with the cause and birth of NTR Memorial Trust, its services to the poor and progress made during several years. The dignitaries were then called on to the podium for their speech and all of them have praised Mr. Naidu of how he as a reformer religiously built IT consciousness in Andhra Pradesh and how he was instrumental in making Hyderabad one of the IT hubs in the country and how he set up Bio tech Park and planned of making Andhra No. 1 in Biotech field. Mr. Janardhan Reddy and Mrs. Rajakumari spoke at length about Mr. Naidu's good deeds and his commitment for the poor and the economical progress made by the state during his regime for which there was a thumping applause from the crowd.

Everybody eagerly waited for Mr. Naidu's turn to take over the podium and he started his speech in English for the sake of non-telugu speaking dignitaries mentioning how happy he was here to see loads of Telugu people and Indians and the grand welcome and reception he got from them. He also mentioned it was his first visit to Toronto, Canada though he made several visits to the U.S but time never permitted him to stop over here. He said he was happy to see so many telugu speaking people in diverse arenas and professions in Canada and wanted to continue grow and help building the community in Canada. Mr. Naidu then ended his 10-12 mins speech in English and continued his speech in meticulous telugu for which people have been waiting. Mr. Naidu said he was proud to see fellow telugites progressing rapidly in different professions including Doctors, Engineers, IT professionals etc. and continue to compete in every other field including cinema hopefully. He then said no matter how far one is but never forget his motherland and do something good for his village/town/city/country. He said he always believed in "Dare to Dream and Strive to Achieve" method which made him be in this position. He also memorized the words he said during the initial stages of his Vision 2020 on which people laughed but he is now happy to see the progress made by the state due to this seeds sowed by then. His speech continued with various other ideas he had for Vision 2020 and his desire to achieve and make A.P and India as one of the most economically grown countries in the world and his wish to see poverty free India in future. He then focused on the activities NTR Memorial trust is conducting and how beneficial it is for the poor and needy.

Mr. Naidu's speech ended with inviting people to join NTR Memorial Trust in its endeavors and make a big difference to millions of lives. Mr. Naidu then presented some mementos to the dignitaries and mentioned the donors list and their contributions which some people have already made in Canada. Mr. Naidu then had a brief Q and A round with the crowd for 10-15 mins which made the meeting to end. It was tough for crowd except the permitted press to get close pictures of Mr. Naidu when on dais as the Canadian security men did not make the crowd come closer. Just when Mr. Naidu got off the dais, the crowd knew Mr. Naidu did not have time to stay longer as he was scheduled for the next meeting that evening in the U.S and so people thronged to him to get pictures with him. The youth again chanted slogans " "Chandrababu Zindabad" and "East or West, CBN is the best" as Mr. Naidu was about to get into limousine. Mr. Babu along with other dignitaries left the venue making the event a huge success which everybody in the venue dreamt off. On the whole it was one of the most successful and landmark events in the history of Telugu Community of Canada. Here are some of the pictures of the event :

CBN USA visit 2007:
CBN at Detroit
CBN at Dallas
CBN raises 140k in San Fransisco
CBN welcome at Bay Area airport