City may partner with Chennai, the former Madras.

The Indian community in San Antonio will throw a dance festival this weekend to celebrate the city's efforts to establish a Sister City relationship with Chennai, the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu on the southeastern edge of India. "We're working toward making that selection happen over the next few months," said Kaushalya Subramaniam, chairwoman of the Indian Sister City Project Taskforce.

Chennai, the former Madras, is India's fourth-largest metropolis; the city had a population of 4.3 million in 2001. It is known for industry, education and research.

If the relationship is approved, Chennai will be San Antonio's first Sister City partnership to be established in two decades. The last Sister City relationship that San Antonio created was with Kumamoto, Japan, in 1987.

The Alamo City has similar partnerships with six other cities worldwide: Monterrey and Guadalajara, both in Mexico; Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, both in the Canary Islands, Spain; Gwangju, South Korea; and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

"I think it makes sense to have a close relationship with some city in India," Subramaniam said, adding there's a growing Indian presence in San Antonio.

Ram Joolukuntla, president of the India Association of San Antonio, estimates the number of Indian families living here has grown to about 3,000 families from about 60 more than 20 years ago.

Elizabeth Costello, the director of the city's International Affairs Department, said the City Council hasn't approved a Sister City partnership in two decades because it wanted to further develop the ones the city already had. Costello said Mayor Phil Hardberger decided it was time to start looking at other possibilities.

She said that in addition to India, the city is exploring Sister City potentials with Germany and that Hardberger is interested in doing one in China. The mayor recently returned from a trip there.

Subramaniam said the local India Association approached the city more than a year ago about the possibility of establishing the international tie with the Asian country.

She said four cities in India were considered, but at the end, the taskforce decided to continue discussions with Chennai because of its rich arts and cultural traditions, as well as its two major ports. She also said some of India's best medical centers are based there, such as the Apollo Hospitals.

One of San Antonio's leading companies also has taken interest in the country.

The Wall Street Journal reported recently that San Antonio-based AT&T Inc. is looking for a wireless acquisition in India, one of the world's fastest growing mobile markets.

Rani Pemmaraju and other volunteers of the India Association of San Antonio said in celebration of potential Sister City partnership, it would host a Suraj Kund Dance Festival at its community center, 9114 Summer Wind, from 4 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday with the help of the Arathi School of Indian Dance. The dance festival features re-enactments of traditional Indian wedding celebrations from that country's four geographical regions.

Special guests will be Indian television stars Shama Sanjay and Sanjay Shantaram, who are on a dance tour across the United States. The pair has helped choreograph a southeastern wedding dance for the festival.

Aside from the dancing, there will be food and jewelry and fabric exhibits.