IndiaPost.com - 30,000 attend New York I-Day

India Post News Service

NEW YORK: India's sixty-first Independence Day was celebrated in New York City with the usual Bollywood-dominated show and clamor at the annual India Day parade on Madison Avenue Aug 17. The motley group of organizers under the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA) managed to put together a loud and awkwardly presented parade, which was, this year, 'bigger' in terms of the number of floats and organizational participation, but definitely not 'better'.

More than 30,000 Indian Americans from the Tri-State area turned up to be part of the celebration, as also to get a glimpse of the hugely popular actress Deepika Padukone, who led the parade as Grand Marshal. Marching by her side as chief guest was industrialist and Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya. The actress, dressed in an almost bridal outfit, waved enthusiastically all around although being surrounded closely by a profusion of organizers, security personnel, police, photographers and spectators who managed to sneak past the police cordon, was hardly visible to fans who eagerly lined up along the parade route.

Although the parade this year was ostensibly dedicated to peace and nonviolence in honor of Mahatma Gandhi, there was little of the theme reflected in the seemingly endless parade of floats and group marchers. While most corporate sponsored floats - with a bunch of kids atop vigorously dancing to blaring remixed versions of Bollywood music -- showcased respective company products or services, only a handful of the floats presented themes of Gandhi, India's freedom movement or the culture of a particular state in India. Interestingly though, the parade did attract a large number of youth participation and not just as spectators.

The Grand Marshal and other lead marchers were preceded by youngsters carrying aloft placards saluting Indian Olympic gold winner Abhinav Bindra, US Olympic gymnast Raj Bhavsar, and astronaut Sunita Williams. The placards also sent out messages condemning terrorism. The city's finest, the New York Police Department, was out in full force, not only for security and crowd control, but also as part of the parade - some of them marching ahead on horses and motor cycles. Conspicuous also was the desi police contingent in the NYPD.

Currently, there are more than 650 South Asian police officers in the NYPD. The celebrities marched from 41st and Madison up to the review stand on 30th Street, wherefrom they cheered the floats and the rest of the marchers. Even as the floats glided by, an overzealous senior organizer proclaimed loudly on mike that the parade was dedicated to the Kingfisher Chairman Vijay Mallya, who is one of the leading sponsors of the event. Prominent among the corporate floats were those of Kingfisher, Air India, Jet Airways, TV Asia, Sahara One, Zee Network, DirecTV, Time Warner Cable, Jus Punjabi, Pan Desi, ITV, Western Union, Moneygram, State Bank of India, Yatra.Com, Airtel and Shaadi.Com.

Among the participating non-profits were GandhiWorldPeace.Org, Share & Care Foundation, Akshaya Patra Foundation, Asha for Education and Sakhi. The social and religious groups included Maharashtra Mandal, Cultural Assn of Bengal, Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha, Dr. Ambedkar, Arya Samaj, Brahma Kumaris, Asharam Bapu, Telugu Literary and Cultural Society, Gujarati Christian Federation, Fokana, Isha Yoga, Prem Prakash Mandir, Kannada Koota, Divya Jyoti Jagriti Kendra, Namdhari Sikh Foundation and ISKCON. There were miscellaneous others like Jackson Heights Merchants Assn., Mohan Tailors, Bricklane Curry House, Haldirams, Society for Indo-American Engineers and Architects and New York Daily News.

A couple of councilmen from Queens took advantage of the parade to campaign their next run for office. A group of Hindu activists marched to highlight the terrorist attacks on Kashmiri Pandits in the Kashmir Valley, and attacks on temples in India, while there were a few others who collected money from the spectators towards victims of bomb blasts in Gujarat and Jaipur. Significantly, the parade also attracted a large number of mainstream media.

The post-parade scene in the afternoon shifted to the mela on 27th Street. Crowds thronged the various food stalls selling hot and spicy desi snacks. Later, towards the evening, a cultural program highlighted local talent that presented folk and Bollywood-style song and dance numbers. Actress Deepika Padukone made an appearance once again on stage during the cultural show much to the delight of the thousands fans gathered there. The heart-warmer on the occasion was a performance by veteran Indian singer Manna Dey, who at 89, could still render a flawless performance.