NewsIndiaTimes - page 17

Cover Story
– that’s all you need to know
Children sang Indian patriotic
songs, and there were colorful
folk dances. Flags of India and
the U.S. were hoisted and
national anthems of both the
countries were sung.
A day before in New Jersey, the
India Business Association held
the India Day Parade in Oak Tree
Road in Edison where thousands
of people came for the 12th
Annual India Day Parade.With
24 floats and dozens of marching
groups, this year’s parade was
said to be the largest in the histo-
ry of the event. More than 100
New Jersey-based community,
professional, business, and reli-
gious organizations participated
in the lively parade that included
ethnic bands, music, and live
performances.
IBA President Dhiren Amin
said the parade was a statewide
celebration of the Indian com-
munity, particularly New Jersey’s
“little India”.
In Illinois, the Consulate
General of India hosted the flag-
hoisting ceremony in Daily
Center Plaza in downtown
Chicago Aug. 15 where more
than 200 people attended the
event.
Spiritual leader Archarya
Lokesh Muni joined the cere-
monies as a special guest of
Consul General Ausaf Sayeed. A
patriotic atmosphere enveloped
the venue as Sayeed raised the
Tricolor and participants chant-
ed the “Vande Mataram” as they
watched the Indian flag wave in
all its glory.
Later that evening, the
Consulate General hosted a pri-
vate reception at the Chicago
Cultural Center in downtown
Chicago.
More than 400 people attend-
ed the event, including a number
of dignitaries like mayors of sev-
eral area municipalities, consuls
general from other countries,
delegations representing gover-
nors and mayors from the
Midwest states, representatives
from the local government in
Chicago, prominent business
leaders and community leaders.
The reception concluded with a
cultural program and dinner.
In Texas, the Mahatma Gandhi
Memorial of North Texas cele-
brated the day Aug. 15 in the
midst of hundreds of jubilant
people from the comunity at
Mahatma Gandhi Memorial
Plaza, Irving, the largest Gandhi
memorial in the U.S.
The spirit of celebrations also
gripped the community in
California where Indian-
Americans celebrated the occa-
sion with enthusiasm. In
Freemont a parade and festival
were organized by the local com-
munity a day before the actual
Aug. 15 anniversary. It was
attended by about 5,000 people
along Paseo Padre Parkway in
Fremont.
According to a Mercury News
report, the parade capped off the
10-day Festival of Globe, former-
ly known as the Festival of India
that included a film festival, fash-
ion show and dance competi-
tion.
Bollywood star and producer
Gulshan Grover narrated the
action as the grand marshal, as
more than a dozen brightly col-
ored, pristine convertible
Thunderbirds rolled by, along
with several floats.
“It's really great we can still
celebrate here in the U.S.," Dr.
Anjali Kamat, a native of India
who has been staying in Fremont
while looking for a residency, was
quoted as saying.
70th I-Day Celebrated
Left, Ambassador Arun K. Singh unfurling the National Flag on the occasion of celebration of India's 70th Independence Day at
Embassy Residence on August 15. Above. guests in attendance on the occasion of celebration of India's 70th Independence
Day at Embassy Residence on August 15.
Bya staff writer
– UNITED NATIONS
A
mid the media glare on
A.R. Rahman’s concert at
the United Nations, pay-
ing tribute to M.S.
Subbulakshmi last week, the
name of Chennai-based
Sankara Nethralaya that was
the cosponsor of the event
along with the Permanent
Mission of India to the United
states, seemed to have been
relegated to the background.
But the gala music concert
was made possible because of
tireless efforts by the
Nethralaya that officials said
had been working for six
months with the PMI to make
it happen. “It is a public-pri-
vate partnership,” one official
said refering to the collobora-
tion behind the concert. The
nonprofit eye institution has
been consistent;y rated as the
number one hospital in India
and recognizzed among the
best managed charitable insti-
tutions in the country.
“We at the Sankara
Nethralaya would like to pay
out humbled tribute to MS as
she is affectionately called the
world over,” Dr. S. S. Badrinath,
one of the leading ophthalmic
surgeons of India, and chair-
man emereritus of Sankara
Nethralaya, said.
The Nonprofit Behind Rahman’s U.N. Concert
Members of the one of the
first temples in Chicago, The
Hindu Temple of Greater
Chicago participating in the
Indian American
Independence Day Parade on
Aug 14 in Knoch Park
Naperville Il.
News India Times August 26, 2016
17
1...,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16 18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,...40
Powered by FlippingBook