India Post News Service
The Federation of Indian Americans of Northern California (FIA) unfurled the Indian tricolor to commemorate India’s 74th Independence Day. For the past 27 years, the FIA-organized 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.
Given the pandemic, flag hoisting and the gala was done virtually and attended by thousands. Indian American community leaders, representatives from Indian American community organizations, patriotic Indians as well as members of the media attended the event.
Consul General of India in San Francisco, Dr.Nagendra Prasad, unfurled the Indian flag at 3676, Delaware Drive. Fremont Mayor Lily Mei unfurled the American national flag at the event.
In his address, Consul General Dr.Prasad highlighted Hon. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day message, delivered from New Delhi’s majestic Red Fort, 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.
“Due to the pandemic, the Mela and Parade in Fremont was cancelled. We will host a bigger and better parade in 2021,” Dr Japra added. Today our Festival of India has become a national event attracting participants from as far away as the East Coast,” said Dr. Romesh Japra, Convener of FIA. On this auspicious occasion Alka Bhatngar sang India’s national anthem while Sameena Japra Paul recited national anthem of USA.
FOG hosted a Virtual Gala on Aug 15 at 7 pm, which was attended by community organizations, dignitaries, and celebrities. Ms. Simran Ahuja who is Miss India 2013, an actress, Celebrity Anchor for Hollywood and Bollywood joined from India in an interactive session and had everyone enthralled.
She joined as Grand Marshal along with Bollywood actresses Prachi Tehlan and Jinal Pandya from India. Esha Deol and Gulshan Grover shared their experiences as former Grand Marshals in FOG India Day Parade celebrations from previous years.
Bollywood Celebrity promoter Mr. Bharat Goradia who has been bringing Grand Marshals to FOG Parade also sent his wishes. The program included patriotic song performances by Alka Bhatnagar, Dhaval Shah, Anushka Banerjee, Akansha Banerjee, Shubha Gunapu and Agni Priya.
Many dignitaries including Assemblymember Kansen Chu, Fremont Mayor Lily Mei, Fremont Councilmembers Raj Salwan, Vinnie Bacon, and Yang Shao attended the Gala. Nisha Sharma Congressional candidate from CA-11 also addressed the gala.
There was enthusiasm and patriotism spilling all through the gala. Ritu Maheshwari – Media Chair (FOG) thanked TV Asia, TV9, TV5, and Sakshi TV for supporting India Independence Day event.
Sponsors who made this event possible are Bank of the West, Air India, Wells Fargo, Astro Vastu solutions by Vaneet Sharma, Visitors Guru, Lavanya Duvvi – Intero real estate, Pacific Realty partners, Keen Learners Montessori, Dr. Monika Chugh, Young explorers, Young Champions, Noreen Ahmed real estate, Bharat Bazar, Gurus education, Provident credit union and Parmeet Randhawa.
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.” This year we couldn’t have the Mela and Parade, but we will come back in 2021.
