The Federation of Indian Associations last week announced that Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan will be the grand marshal of the India Day Parade this year as the largest umbrella organization from the Tri-state area hosted the traditional curtain raiser at the Indian Consulate in Manhattan July eight.
The event officially launched the run-up to the August 21 India Day Parade that FIA has been organizing for 35 years.
Opening the ceremony at the consulate FIA President Anand Patel expressed gratitude to the consulate general for being the co-host of the curtain raiser for over a decade at the New India House that houses the consulate.
The parade this year will start from 12:00 P.M. from 39th Street and Madison Avenue intersection. The fair and cultural programs will be on 26th Street and Madison Avenue from 12:00 P.M. till 6:00 P.M.
The event began with the ceremonious lighting of the lamp by Consul General Riva Ganguly Das, the grand sponsors as well as the FIA’s Board of Trustees and past presidents which included Chairman Ramesh Patel, Yash Paul Soi, FIA vice chairman, T.V. Asia Chairman H. R. Shah, Chandrakant Trivedi, Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh, publisher of Desi Talk, Albert Jasani and Andy Bhatia, executive vice president, among others.
Ramesh Patel in an address noted that along with the celebrations of Indian Independence Day and Republic Day FIA is also at the forefront in fighting for community issues like immigration, discrimination, bias, and hate crimes.
Ganguly Das in her address paid tributes to FIA for its social activities as well putting together remarkable events. She said she was excited to be part of the Independence Day festivities in New York for the first time.
Among the dignitaries who addressed the guests included Soi, Shah, and Dr. Parikh. The event’s highlight was the announcement of the Grand Marshal for 2016. Anand Patel announced that the honor will be been given to Abhishek Bachchan who has reached a pride of place in Bollywood with his superhits such as Guru, Sarkaar and Dhoom.
Patel also announced the participation of yoga guru Baba Ramdev at the parade as well. The event also included a dance presentation based on a compilation of Rabindranath Tagore’s poems by Kalashri Dance Academy.
The curtain raiser also honored Kiran Nambiar, vice president and country manager of CKGS, the Indian Government’s visa, OCI and passport processing company, with a plaque for his efforts to successfully implement a host of visa camps primarily with FIA, the Indian Embassy and other community organizations as well as the CGIs across the U.S. Nambiar, who is moving in July end to Canada concluding his CKGS U.S. tenure, was not present at the event.
The ceremony concluded with immediate past President Ankur Vaidya giving a vote of thanks and providing a raffle giveaway of four gold coins to raise funds for the Darjeeling Sanitation Project which FIA has been working for the past two years.
The post Abhishek Bachchan Named Grand Marshal Of N.Y. India Day Parade appeared first on News India Times.