CHICAGO: In the presence of about two dozen elected officials, dozens of heads of community organizations, a large number of sponsors, scores of artists, and 500 attendees, Federation of Indian Associations celebrated the biggest festivity of the Midwest to mark the 67th Indian Republic Day at Ashton Place in Willowbrook, a Chicago suburb.
The singing of the National Anthem of USA by Ashley Singh, Indian Anthem by the entire FIA team, and later the recitation of Vanda Matram by Nisha Sarswat spiked the patriotic atmosphere of the evening. The traditional ceremony of the lamp lighting augmented the nostalgic value a notch up.
Sunil Shah, FIA’s Founder President, aptly summed up the positive spirit. “We truly represent the heightened aspirations of Indian Americans and we are amplifying our efforts to reach out to the 200,000 and growing population of our folks,” he said.
Dhitu Bhagwakar, the newly elected president, expressed his happiness on witnessing the huge crowd and dignitaries. “FIA is growing exponentially, and its best days are ahead,” he declared. He announced that FIA would be organizing a mega Holi Mela on March 27 (Sunday) at DuPage Fairgrounds. “We want to bring whole community at a larger stage so that we can create a bolder image of our community,” the president said.
Consul General Dr Ausaf Sayeed commended the FIA leadership for hosting such a magnificent event that will project the growing strength of the Indian community. It makes, he added, the job of the Consul General easier and “I can focus on other impending issues.”
Consul OP Meena also expressed satisfaction at the successful organizing of the event by FIA leaders
Guest of Honor and Vice President of Wintrust Community Bank, Syed Hussaini, reiterated his financial support to FIA after seeing the community’s overwhelming response. His bank, he said, is encouraging entrepreneurs to launch new companies and help out the community.
Among the elected officials who attended the event included Congressional Candidate Raja Krishnamoorthy, State Senator Michael Noland, State Senator Patti Bellock, State Senator Laura Murphy, State Representative Michelle Mussman, State Representative Stephanie Kifowit, State Representative Deb Conroy, Mayor of Villa Park, Deborah Bullwinkel, a representative from Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s Office, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President, Mariyana Spyropoulos, DuPage County Board Member, Liz Chaplin, DuPage County Board Member, Tony Michelassi, Darien Village President, Kathleen Weaver, and Oak Brook Village President, Dr Gopal Lalmalani.
Various community organizations were represented by Suryakant Patel, President, of Gujarati Samaj of Chicago; Gladson Varghese President of GOPIO; Ram Saini, President of Rajasthani Association; Gurmit Singh Dhillon, President of PCS; Socrates Ponnusamy, President of Chicago Tamil Sangam; Kaushik Bhupendra, President of Kannada Association; Tomy Mathews, President of Chicago Malayalee Association; Ajit Chaudhary, President of Bihar Cultural Association, Keyur Ghayal and Ashwin Bodalia; current President and Past President of Gandhi Samaj of Chicago; and Hina Trivedi, Trustee of FIA; Niranjan Nathwani, President of Lohana Samaj, a representative of Chicago Darzi Samaj.
The presence of Suhanee Patel, one of the top 10 contestants at the National American Miss Nationals 2015, brought further grandeur to the event. Another talented star of the Indian diaspora, Ashley Singh, stole the hearts of the audience.The four emcees. Gaurav Arora, Jassi Parmar, Mona Bhalla, and Shalini Saxena were simply superb.
Dancers from Junoon Dance Academy, which is managed by Sweta Bhagwakar, increased the entertainment temperature of the hall by their thrilling performance of the Welcome Dance. Ganesh Vandan Dancers from Shingari School captivated the audience. More than three dozen dances from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana magically projected India’s diversity.
About half a dozen singers mesmerized the audience – Mahijit Virdi, Sheen Trivedi, Ishan Ahmed, Pratibha Jairath, Nipa Shah, and Mona Bhalla. Songs that were rendered were “mere desh ki dharte,” “ye desh hai veer jawaano kaa,” “saare jehaan se achchaa,” “aye mere watanke logon,” “prem rattan dhanpayo,” “chittiyaa kalaiyaan,” “mere dholna,” and “damaa dam mast qalandar.”
The mimicry of Bollywood stars was another entertaining item performed by Pankaj (Paul) Chopra and Mohammad Samdani.
Proposing a vote of thanks, FIA President Dhitu Bhagwakar thanked the generous support of the sponsors, members and the immense contributions of his team
Moon Khan
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