The Beginnings (1940 - 1956) - Page 1
In 1940, in Madras, the founders of our Sangham, Smt. N. Kameswari (Akkayya) and Sri. N. Raghava Rao (Annayya) used to gather children around them, to train them for All India Radio Children's programmes. Later they thought that children should have an avenue to exhibit their talent on the stage as well. Being writers of children’s literature themselves, they found it easy to put on shows of playlets, musical plays, songs and mono action. These were the beginnings of Andhra Balananda Sangham.
Years rolled by and with the end of the World War II, things brightened up. More and more children and parents from various parts of the city took interest in the activities of Balanandam. Encouraged by this, the founders thought that it worthwhile to formalize this gathering and organize the traditional Dasara Dolls exhibition and conduct cultural shows. That was the beginning of the Children’s theatre group called Balanandam, meaning happiness for children.
Around this time appeared “Bala”, the very first children’s magazine in Telugu, which later became an inspiration to other magazines like ‘Chandamama”. Our founders being the editors and publishers of 'Bala', allotted a few pages in the magazine to the activities of Balanandam children. This publicity helped the readers to start similar children’s clubs in Andhra Desam. Balanandam rapidly became a household name.
Balanandam activities at Madras (Chennai) created a lot of interest and started growing by leaps and bounds. Then our founders, along with other interested parents, thought it important to give the organization a firm basis and constitute a committee of management. Thus they formalized the association and registered it under the name of Andhra Balananda Sangham.
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