India Consulate in Atlanta’s
Joyous Celebrations of India’s 69th Independence Day.
Text & Pics By Mahadev Desai
India’s 69th Independence Day was celebrated with great joy,
enthusiasm, patriotic fervor and national pride at the India
Consulate in Atlanta. The celebrations on sunny Saturday
morning, Aug 15,2015, were attended by over 200 community
members including Consulate staff and families;leaders and
representatives from Indian American Organizations of Georgia,
and graced by the presence of Consul General Hon.Nagesh Singh.
Monty Kataria welcomed all and invited Nagesh Singh to address
the gathering. After expressing his warm greetings, Nagesh Singh
noted,” As our Prime Minister said we are a country of 125
crores. Because of the challenges we faced in terms of our size,
diversity and complex society we ought to be proud of what we
have achieved so far during the 69 years and must do our bit to
take our country forward.”.
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Nagesh Singh |
Nagesh Singh then read out the Address to the Nation on the eve
of India’s 69th Independence Day by the Hon.President of India
Pranab Mukherjee. The President in his address said, inter alia
that “Our country’s rise will be measured by the strength of our
values, but it will equally be determined by economic growth and
equitable distribution of the nation’s resources. Our
performance over the last decade has been commendable, and it is
most heartening that after a dip,we have recovered to 7.3%
growth in 2014-15.But the benefits of growth must reach the
poorest of the poor…India is a complex country of 1.3 billion
people,122 languages,1600 dialects and seven religions. Its
strength lies in its unique capacity to blend apparent
contradictions into positive affirmations. In the words of
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru,it is a country held together and I
quote,”by strong but invisible threads…About her there is the
elusive quality of a legend of long ago; some enchantment seems
to have held her mind. She is a myth and an idea, a dream and a
vision, and yet very real and present and pervasive" Unquote).
After reading the President’s address Nagesh Singh exhorted the
community to unite as one for collective visibility.. He said
that there has been enough talk on the matter but it is now high
time to come together and forge a spirit of oneness. It is vital
to have strength in numbers if we want our voice to be heard,
heeded and respected.(Applause)
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| Mrs.Anagha Srinivasan |
Monty Kataria |
The writer is reminded of a lyric from the song ‘Chale chalo’ (
Bollywood movie ‘Lagaan’) “ Tut gaee jo ungli utthi,panchon
milee toh ban gaye mutthi’( five fingers together can turn into
a strong fist).
He then proceeded to unfurl the Tricolor. Everyone clapped with
joy and pride as the Tricolor was unfurled and the flower petals
gently floated on the pristine Consulate lawn.
Mrs.Angha Srinivasan enthralled the gathering with her rousing
rendering of the patriotic song Ae mere watan ke logon to the
accompaniment of percussion by young Ramanuj Srinivasan. The
attendees also joined in singing the lyrics of this iconic
patriotic song.
Lassiter High School's STEAM program freshmen; Hansinee Mayani,
was invited to and played the Indian national anthem on the
violin. The gathering,once again,enthusiastically joined in
singing ‘Jana mana gana’. ( Hansinee has had the privilege of
being invited to play both: the Indian and the American Anthems,
for the 26th January Republic Day Celebrations in the past.")
Delicious refreshments were served and much enjoyed by all after
the program.
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