NEW YORK: The Empire State Building celebrated India Day on August 8, by shining green, white and orange on the building east side in honor of the colors of Indian flag. In the past few years, the Empire State Building has also been recognizing Indian Independence Day. Indo American Sr. Citizens Association of Hudson County celebrated the Independence Day on August 16.

The parade started from Newark Ave, with Pipe Band of Secaucus Swami Narayan Temple. The Parade included Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy of Jersey City as Grand Marshal and Pam Kwatra, recipient of Ellis Island Medal of Honor 2008 as Marshal. Other Chief guests were Councilman Bill Gaughan, Piyush Patel, philanthropist, Anil Bansal, founder of Indus American Bank, Mrs Dipti Jani, wife of Suresh Jani, chairman IGA & AIANA, HR Shah, CEO of T V Asia, could not attend due to other commitments but supported the event by sending Pankaj Brambhat. TP Mahesh, country head of Tilda Rice was also among the chief guests. T

he parade ended at Leonard Garden Park and celebration of the event was started by Mona Chodha and Sanjive Pandya who were the Masters of Ceremony. Mona started the ceremony with National Anthem of both the countries. After the flag hoisting Mayor Jerramiah T. Healy addressed the audience.

He complimented the organization of Indo American Hudson County Sr. Citizens for doing remarkable job in the community and for enriching the American community by imparting their culture and values. He further, thanked Pam Kwatra for gracing the occasion and honored her with a proclamation plaque.

The Mayor admired the way Mona conducted the event and thanked the committee behind the scenes which worked tirelessly. It comprised President of Sr. Citizens Pramod Patel, Bhavesh Dave, Bali Patel, Arvind Patel, Lalit Upadhya and Gaurish Nayak, Indravadan Parikh and Krishna Kant Shah. Second half of the event provided entertainment conducted by Sanjiv Pandya. Performances on Bollywood songs were greatly enjoyed by the audience.

The event was colorful like a carnival with free food donated by Swami Narayan Temple (Vasana, Swami Narayan Ave.) and Raj Bhog and Popcorn stalls by Indus American Bank.