Ambassador Dyaneshwar Mulay, Consul General of India in New York who endeared himself to the community during his three-year stint in New York, was given a hearty send-off last week as Tri-state Indian-Americans hosted a farewell reception for him at Royal Albert’s Palace, Fords, in New Jersey Feb. 16.
The event, attended by more than 350 people, was organized by the Federation of Indian Associations of Tri-state in collaboration with a number of prominent community organizations. FIA Tri-state president Anand Patel in his welcome address praised Mulay and “his assiduous efforts” in opening the doors of the consulate and talked about many of his initiatives, including “Bringing Consulate to your door step”, alluding to the outreach program that he launched.
Mulay was welcomed with a thunderous applause by the audience and was escorted by the band of New Jersey State Police in the presence of prominent leaders, including FIA chairman Ramesh Patel; Dr. Sudhir M. Parikh, publisher of News India Times and Padma Shri award winner; H.R. Shah, chairman of TV Asia; Anil Bansal, chairman of Indus American Bank and Dr. Seema Jain, President of American Association of Physicians of Indian origin.
Parikh, who was a keynote speaker, told the audience about Mulay’s many accomplishments, including the “dramatic changes” at the consulate. Parikh said that the consular services, which have been in chaos before he arrived, have now been totally professionalized.
“He has streamlined and optimized all other services at the consulate. But even more impressive is the fact that he transformed the consulate into an epicenter of intellectual, cultural and professional hub to enhance the profile of India in the United States,” Parikh said. “Ai big credit must go to Ambassador Mulay for transforming the consulate,” he said.
Later, speaking to this correspondent Parikh noted that unlike many previous consuls, Mulay used to invite not just the Indian-Americans, but also Americans at various events organized by the consulate so the latter gets to know more about India and its talent.
“His main thrust was to impress Americans with our culture and talent so when they travel to India for the first time and see it firsthand, they go there with some knowledge and background about India. That has helped the people-to-people relations between India and the U.S. and would a long way in cementing ties between our two countries, and that is what I like about his professional work the most,” Parikh told this correspondent.
Others like H.R. Shah spoke about the many accomplishments of Mulay and said he admired Ambassador Mulay “not only for his exceptional body of work but also his “literary work.”
Mulay was presented a plaque by the community leaders, and also his portrait done by Manoj Vyas, an alumnus of J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, on behalf of Parikh Worldwide Media. Mulay, who gave a brief speech, called upon the audience to work together for India while being away from India. “Let’s work together to bring India on the global platform and be instrumental in bringing about a change,” he said. “A lot has been done under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a lot still needs to be accomplished,” Mulay said.
Also present at the event was Manoj Mohapatra, Deputy Consul General at the Indian Consulate in New York. The consulate had organized an official farewell for Mulay Feb. 14 at the consulate in New York. It was attended by some 100 people, mostly close friends of Mulay and community leaders. “At that event Mulay also spoke about taking Indo-U.S. relations to further heights and asked the community to help in that effort,” Dr. Parikh, who was an invited guest, told this correspondent.
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