Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
India’s 76th Independence Day was celebrated in Fremont, California with great enthusiasm and patriotic fervor among members of the Indian community.
The Federation of Indian Americans of Northern California (FIA) unfurled the Indian tricolor to commemorate India’s 75th Independence Day on August 20 and 21, 2022 at the Alameda county Superior courthouse, Fremont. For the past 29 years, FIA has been organizing the Festival of India to symbolize the unity, integrity, culture and the best of things that are hallmarks of the Indian community in the Bay Area. The event was co-hosted by the City of Fremont, Consulate general of India, SFO, and Alameda County. The two-day event was attended by 15,000 – 18,000 from all over the West Coast.
Elected officials from the City of Fremont, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, San Jose, Indian American community leaders, representatives from Indian American community organizations, patriotic Indians as well as members of the media attended the event. Ambassador of India, Taranjit Singh Sandhu unfurled the tricolor flag on Aug 20 at the Fair. Amb. Sandhu said India has also made its mark in the global community, he added.
India is an “indispensable” part of bringing solutions to global challenges–be it in the form of the pandemic or in food security or critical technology. Sandhu emphasized that the India-US partnership, especially the one between US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was extremely crucial not only for India and the United States but also the world. He heralded the Indian diaspora as an instrumental part of the India-US relationship.
Student artists enthralled the audiences by performing different forms of dance through choreographic performances of group dances. The Cultural Segment was hosted and organized by FOG/FIA Cultural Chair/Actress Jo Sharma (Jyotsna) with 150+ dance teams in a 2-day event. There were huge crowds attending the event.
Day-1 was filled with Dance competitions of multiple age groups with 1000+ kids/adults performing dances blending Indian dance styles with Bollywood and Classical styles. Jyotsna (Jo) along with a team composed of dozens of volunteers did an outstanding job managing backstage for smooth execution of the cultural segment.
Day-2 started with 100+ dance performances on stage followed by Bollywood celebrity showstopper performance choreographed by Abhilash from DanceDilSe Company along with DDS students. Bollywood Actor Abhimanyu danced on Nikamma with Jyotsna (Jo) on Nikamma song, while Meghna Raj danced on famous hit Kannada song from her movie.
Consul General of India in San Francisco, Dr. Nagendra Prasad led the India day parade on August 21. Fremont Mayor Lily Mei unfurled the American national flag at the event.
City of Fremont Vice-Mayor Yang Shao, Councilmembers Raj Salwan, Rick Jones, Teresa Cox, Teresa Keng, and Jenny Kansan were all in attendance. The event was also attended by Assemblymen Ash Kalra, Assemblymen Alex Lee, representative from Supervisor David Heubert office, Supervisor Cindy Chavez, Saratoga Mayor Tina Walia, Foster City Mayor Richa Awasthi, Santa Clara Vice Mayor Raj Chahal were all in attendance.
Celebrating the beginning of the Amrit Mahotsav (Festival of Freedom), Dr Nagendra Prasad, Consul General of India, SFO, greeted the Indian diaspora congratulating everyone on the special occasion. In his address, Consul General Dr. Nagendra Prasad highlighted Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day message, where he paved the way forward for India, and our aspirations of building a new India. The celebration of India’s Independence Day in the U.S. is a symbol of the strong relations between the U.S. and India, he said.
Consul General Dr Prasad touched upon the new initiatives undertaken by the consulate for enhancing the welfare of the community and delivery of services, including the launch of chat bot, virtual appointment, outreach activities. The consul general highlighted the close friendly ties between India and the US.
Kannada actress Meghana Raj and Bollywood actor Abhimanyu Dassani were the grand marshals for the event. They addressed the gathering, honored the sponsors of the event and interacted with his fans. FOG Hero awards were bestowed to Sushil Pandit, Kashmiri activist, Arun Kankani, SEWA President, Mayor Lily Mei and Santa Clara Attorney Jeff Rosen.
The primary purpose of the event Is to showcase Indian culture for the local community, while celebrating the values of freedom, democracy, diversity, and tolerance, shared between India and the United States, said Dr Romesh Japra, Chairman, FIA. He thanked the countless volunteers who have toiled for the past 6 months to make this event a huge success.
Sponsors who made this event possible were City of Fremont, Alameda county, Consulate General of India San Francisco, BMW of Fremont, Poppy Bank, Raymond James, Caravaan/Sling, Astro vastu Vaneet Sharma, Prema Subramaniam realtor, Disney Brahmastra, MTR Foods, Spare the Air, Young Champions, East bay community energy, Alameda county water district, CEFCU, Golden 1 home loans, WP Advisors, Keen learners, Fly homes, Rite care, Bay area community health, State bank of India California, BART, Desi natural , New york life, AC Transit, Ikidz, Washington hospital, NYMBLE robotics, Pfizer, Astrazeneca and Parmeet Randhawa.As part of the two day fair, we had 110 booths and 5 food trucks, which had businesses, clothing, jewelry, home decor and other attractions. I would like to thank all the sponsors and community organizations that have contributed to the grand success, said Vidya Sethuraman, Executive Director, FIA.
India day parade had 65 parade entries, 70 plus volunteers and we introduced technology in many facets of Parade, said KP Maheshwari, Parade Chair. Consulate General of India SFO, Bay area TamilManram, Bharati Tamil Sangam, UPMA, Kannada Koota of Northern California, Women Empowerment Telugu association, Silicon Andhra, Bay area Telanganites, MMNA, FOG Odisha, FOG Bengal, MMBA, Bay Area Kerala Sangam, OOBB, Madhya Pradesh, NACHA, FOG Gujarat, FOG Delhi, Haryanvi Association, Kashmir Hindu Foundation, Himachal Pradesh, FOG idol music group, Bay area Assamese group, FUSD had their walking groups and artistically decorated theme based floats in the parade.
Commenting on the success of the Festival, Rajesh Verma, President of FIA, said, “This is our way of passing on the torch of our pride in our traditions to the future generations of Indian-American youth.
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