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I would like to describe my native village named Jonnalagadda in Narasaraopet Mandal which is in Guntur dist. It is 2 km from Nararasaraopet town on Narasaraopet-Guntur road and 40 km away from Guntur. Due to its proximity to the town the village boasts of many educated people. Jonnalagadda is a politically active village and the first Assembly Speaker of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Nallapati Venkata Ramaiah comes from this village. Jonnalagadda is a perfect village with soils suitable to grow rice and rainfed crops, and dairy, temples, Kalyana Mandapam (contributed by TTD), schools and Pharma and engineering colleges. There are 7 temples in the village i.e. Sai baba temple,Vinayaka temple,Venugopala swamy temple, Anjeneya swamy temple, Sivalayam, Poleramma temple and Gangamma temple besides Boddurai where prayers are offered on special occasions. As per the inscription available at the premises, the Venugopala swamy temple was constructed by a chieftain of Kakatiya Rudramadevi, in reciprocation to the comfortable treatment for his army during one of his endeavours by the then village chief Sri Jonnalagadda Verri Ragaiah. It has been renovated since then. Sai baba temple, though recent, has gained importance among the residents of Jonnalagada as well as Narasaroapet. It has become a custom to celebrate Sai baba Thirunala (fair) every year on May 18. It is a huge festival in Jonnalagada. Many people from different places, from near and far, participate in the proceedings on that day. Four famous engineering colleges are there near the village. Every sankranthi festival is celebrated by conducting sports, games and yedla pandalu in which many people from nearby villages also take part and enjoy. Every festival is celebrated with pomp and show. One of the major festivals is Vinayaka chavithi. Children enjoy identifying and collecting herbs for puja, preparing Ganesh idols with clay, performing puja and immersing the God in Kuppagunji vagu. Occasionally, Poleramma and Gangamma jataras are performed. Jonnalagadda stands as an example for communal amity with a church (since 1952) and a mosque. Chritmas and Ramjan are celebrated with equal fervor. Jonnalagadda has a satelite village, Rangareddy Palem. Jonnalagadda village also stands as a mute witness to the exploitation of colonial British, with 3 pairs of abandoned Neelimandu bavulu (wells) used for processing blue, cultivation of which must have rendered many fertile lands useless. These wells still can be seen behind Poleramma temple. Improved by Dr J S Prasad May 19, 2016
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