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India’s cultural diversity was on display on Madison Avenue in Manhattan August 21 as thousands of men, women and children packed the barricaded sidewalks to watch the 36th India Day Parade, marking the country’s 69th anniversary of Independence Aug. 15.
Amid chanting of full-throated slogans of Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata Ki Jai, people held banners, buntings and flags of both India and the U.S., waiving their hands and cheering at colorfully decorated floats that rolled down the parade route one after the other in a moving show of the country’s quintessential unity in diversity.
Groups representing various states and regions, their diverse dress, dance and music, merged into one monumental display of Indian culture and identity on American soil, and yet dazzled like jewels in the crown throughout the cultural jamboree starting from the 39th Street and ending near the 26th. Street and Madison Park. The parade was organized by the Federation of Indian Associations of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
The parade’s grand marshal of was Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan while chief guests were Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, Jain acharya Lokesh Muni, South Indian superstar Chiyaan Vikram and Priyanka Kothari.
From the review stand, a raised platform where the special guests, officials like Consul General Riva Ganguly Das, and senior FIA functionaries stood to watch the floats roll by, Ramdev briefly addressed the crowd. He said in Hindi that India today represents the glory of its past, the strength of the present day and is marching forward with hope, and dreams of a better and brighter future. He expressed optimism that Indian Tricolor will continue to fly high around the world. Noting that India has been able to achieve what it has by combining spirituality and modernism, the yoga guru urged the Indian-Americans and the Indian diaspora to work together to help reach the nation to greater glory.
Lokesh Muni who also addressed the crowd congratulated the community on 70th anniversary of independence, noting said that India and the U.S. are the two largest democracies of the world that share common values of plurality, secularism, justice to all.
“The U.S. and India are examples for the entire world as both countries have complete freedom to practice and propagate their culture and religion. Both have been a tolerant society since their existence and both countries give freedom to its people to practice their religions with instruments for the protection of religious minorities,” Muni said.
While such rekindling of patriotic fervor was greeted by cheers from the gallery, the loudest of them were heard when Bachchan, dressed in a light blue jacket and trouser got on to the review stand. Waiving his hands at the crowd that tried in vain to come out of the barricaded sidewalks to take a closer look at the 40-year-old Bollywood actor, Bachchan said it felt “wonderful” to be the part of the celebrations in New York. He recalled that the last time he had attended the parade was in 1997 when his father Amitabh Bachchan was the grand marshal. ““It is a huge honor to be here and represent the beautiful nation of ours,” he said.
Police officials had a tough time trying to contain selfie-seekers and shake hands with him on the platform.
Besides working in the capacity of law enforcement, Desi Society representing City of New York Correction Officials took part in the parade with tricolor in their hands. Several other organizations, including Parikh Worldwide Media, publisher of Desi Talk and News India Times as well as Air India took out colorful floats. The government-owned carrier’s participation with a float was led by Vandana Sharma, the carrier’s regional manager.
On the occasion, the iconic Empire State Building was lit up in the tricolor. The largest India Day parade in the United States attended, according to organizers by close to 75,000 people, ended with a cultural event at Madison Square Park attended by the celebrities.
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