Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
The Federation of Indo-Americans (FIA) of Northern California aka FOG celebrated India’s 75th Republic Day with daylong cultural activities on Jan 27 at the Bishop Elementary School, Sunnyvale.
FIA has been celebrating the Republic Day of India for over 41 years now, meticulously promoting the opulent culture and various dance and music styles of India.
In all, 130 dance schools participated with over 1000 Indian origin children in this year’s competition and performances. The audience enjoyed the enthralling and captivating performances of the children in 20 different groups.
The dance competitions were coordinated and meticulously executed by Jyotsna B Sharma, FOG Cultural chair, and her team of 40 volunteers. Desh Rangeela segment was curated by Ryan Nathan, and Shanmukha Theaters and had over 120 Participants representing dance forms from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of India. Shuvra Ray and team performed a medley of dance numbers under Jalsa.
The ceremonies began with the American National Anthem sung by Sameena Japra Paul followed by the Indian National anthem sung by Alka Bhatnagar. The dignitaries were led by Dr. Srikar Reddy, Consul General of India SFO, Tom Pyke, Congressman Ro Khanna’s office, Supervisor Cindy Chavez, a representative from Supervisor Otto Lee’s office, representative from Assemblymen Alex Lee office, Sunnyvale mayor Larry Klein, Councilmember Murali Srinivasan, Fremont elected officials Yang Shao, Raj Salwan, Teresa Cox, Santa Clara council member Raj Chahal, Milpitas elected officials Carman Mantano and Hon Lien, Sararago councilmember Tina Walia to name a few. The dignitaries in their brief speeches extolled and praised the development India has seen since independence and the India-USA collaboration in various fields and the friendship between the leaders of both democracies.
Various organization heads such as BATS, KKNC, BAPS, Shiv Durga Temple, O2B2, Rang Munch, Konkani association, Silicon Andhra, RANA, MMBA, FOG Odisha, FOG Bengal, NACHA, UMA, MANCS, NSS, Bay area Kerala Sangham were present at the occasion.
Air India, MTR Foods, GRB Dairy, CEFCU, Astro Vastu, Spare The Air, LT Foods, ICICI Bank, Young Champion, and Keen Learners were the sponsors of this event.
