|
By Syam
Yellamraju
Wow! Indians in Atlanta did it again, they came together on
Saturday August 16, 2008 to celebrate the 61st anniversary of
independence of India , with a fantastic Festival Of India. This
year's Festival Of India (FOI) is the twelfth one and has become
an annual event organized by Inida American Cultural Association
(IACA), in collaboration with the local organizations.
Several new innovative and creative ideas were added to the gala
event, one of such ideas was the FOI Torch. It was a great
journey and a grand finale for the Festival of India torch in
Atlanta , Georgia . It entered the Gwinnett Center at 8.30AM
with hundreds of Indians filled with patriotic spirit and
enthusiasm. The torch was welcomed by one and all. Several
people were screaming at the top of their voice "Vande Mataram"
and "Bharat Maata Ki Jai"!
The FOI Torch was ceremonially lit on the prestigious stage of
IACA’s Beauty Pageant on July 19, 2008 among fan fare and
reverence. The FOI Torch travelled through metro Atlanta ! going
through the gorgeous Roswell area, Marietta and Johns Creek ,
Duluth and Alpharetta. At each of these locations, several
hundreds of people attended the ceremonies and participated in
the cultural programs inclusive of flag hoisting.
There were 3 laps around the Gwinnet Center parking lot. Each
lap was led by the torch and culminated with a color of the
Indian tri color flag. Beginning with Saffron fabric, the torch
went around the first lap and folks became part of the huge flag
formation. This was followed by the torch with the White color
and then Green. The 18 feet flag was formed in front of the
Gwinnett Center entrance. It was a view from the above like none
other. It was a great feeling to see the tri color being formed
with such pride and enthusiasm.
The torch was then welcomed into the Gwinnett auditorium by 500+
folks who began singing invocation songs. The melodious singing
was followed by flag hoisting by the President of IACA, Mr.
Surinder Bahl and ended with the National Anthems. The cultural
show kicked off with a bang, at a scale never witnessed before.
The torch team included a dedicated team inclusive of Padma
Rallapalli, Sangeeta Mayur, Samir Doshi, Subbu Kesavarapu and
Ramakanth Rallapalli.
In a very non Indian fashion, the cultural programs started at
sharp 9am, as advertised! The show ran non stop from 9am to 7pm
to a packed auditorium of almost 1000 people at peak time. In
addition to the regular bollywood masala that kept the fast
pace, significant time was allocated to innovation and
creativity. New programs included a game show “Jodi #1” where
participating couples competed for the title of “Jodi #1”. There
were several items inclusive of East-West, and Bollywood Techno
Fitness that sent people dancing! Classical items like Kuchipudi,
Bharatanatyam and Odissi had a very honorable allocation of time
in the schedule, were well presented and extremely well received
by the audience. Patriotic skit by the Georgia Tamil Sangham and
the Gondhal folk dance by Maratha Mandal were exceptional. A
special message from the Isha’s Sadhguru was presented and was
very much appreciated by the Isha followers. Several patriotic
songs were presented inclusive of Aie Mere Vatan Ke logo, Isha
band and many others. The 10 hour long programs were very well
coordinated by a team of 3 women, Krishan Kesavarapu, Uma
Narayan and Neeta Shenvi. In addition, a score of volunteers
came together to produce the event.
A special inclusion of Hindustani instrumental by Sangeetkar was
very captivating.
 By
9.30am, the "mela" area was buzzing with booths set up by
commercial and non profit organizations. Food booths started a
bit later than expected with the formalities involved with the
local country authorities. However, they were all ready in time
by 11am to serve very hot, delicious and inviting lunch to the
thousands of hungry visitors. Live broadcasting by the local
radio station, “Spice Radio” added a new successful attraction.
The central stage with hourly flag hoisting and patriotic events
was huge success with a great following. Specially, the street
play and a special presentation by Maratha mandal stood out. The
“dhol” and high energy bhangra played constantly added
significant touch to the mela environment and transported the
visitors to an India like environment. The mela team included
Paddy Sharma, Tania Aurora, Surinder Bahl for booths and Krishna
Kesavarapu and Vasantha Kandikuppa for the cultural items.
There were two tracks of seminars presented with interesting
topics and eminent speakers. Though, the turn out at these
seminars was moderate, it, in a way, enabled more interactive
communication. The seminars were organized by Ash Thakker, Padma
Rallapalli and other volunteers.
The “Kid Fest”, organized as a part of the mela was coordinated
by Dev Kondur. This team had organized several activities
inclusive of drawing competitions, kite making, bead making and
so on. There were 500+ kids of a variety of age groups that
enjoyed these activities.
The almost free health fair attracted a record of 300+ people vs
the usual 100-150 visitors. This was also a point of
gratification for the attending physicians. The health fair was
coordinated vey well by Dr. Inderpal Singh.
Fund raising for this event was a very hard thing to do in a
unhealthy economic environment. However, exceptional job was
done by Chand Akkineni and Paddy Sharma.
The web committee included Raghav Tadavarthy and Kamal Satuluru.
Treasury function was managed by Mukesh Parekh.
Record number of attendees, exceeding 7000 people, flooded the
venue and it was surely an awesome day long event to remember
for a long time.
 |
