News India Times
February 12, 2016
18
Community
– that’s all you need to know
ByUrvashiVerma
he Federation of Indian
Associations (FIA) cele-
brated India’s 67th
Republic Day with great
festivity and patriotism
Jan 24 at Ashton Place Banquets
inWillowbrook IL.
More than 500 attendees,
including dozens of elected offi-
cials, community organizations,
and artists from the Chicago
suburbs gathered to commemo-
rate India’s Republic Day.
Sunil Shah, FIA’s founder
president, summed up the posi-
tive spirit. “We truly represent
the heightened aspirations of
Indian-Americans and we are
amplifying our efforts to reach
out to the 200,000 and growing
population of our folks,” he said.
Echoing similar sentiments,
Onkar Singh Sangha, founder
and past president, welcomed
all the guests and sponsors stat-
ing, “We feel blessed to see such
a tremendous community sup-
port.”
The program began with the
national anthem of the U.S. by
Ashley Singh, followed by the
Indian national anthem sung by
the FIA team.
A recitation of Vande Matram
by Nisha Sarswat was followed
by the traditional ceremony and
dances from Junoon Dance
Academy, managed by Sweta
Bhagwakar, who performed a
welcome dance known as
Ganesh Vandana.
Neil Khot, FIA’s executive
vice-president, read out a reso-
lution issued by the Mayor of
Hoffman Estates, William
McLeod, which lauded the
accomplishments of FIA. Hitesh
Gandhi announced the opening
of a new career planning semi-
nar for youths at Poplar Creek
Library in Streamwood.
Among the elected officials,
who attended the event includ-
ed Congressional Candidate
Raja Krishnamoorthy, State
Senator Michael Noland, State
Senator Patti Bellock, State
Senator Laura Murphy, State
Representative Michelle
Mussman, State Representative
Stephanie Kifowit, State
Representative Deb Conroy,
Mayor of Villa Park, Deborah
Bullwinkel, a representative
from Attorney General Lisa
Madigan's Office, Metropolitan
Water Reclamation District
President, Mariyana
Spyropoulos, DuPage County
Board Member, Liz Chaplin,
DuPage County Board Member,
Tony Michelassi, DarienVillage
President, KathleenWeaver, and
Oak Brook Village President
Gopal Lalmalani.
Raja Krishnamoorthy also
spoke at the event and declared
that his campaign “will mobilize
the community to be more
politically active and upon his
election, he would try to repre-
sent every Indian in the U.S.
Congress. “If I win, it will be
your victory,” he explained.
The entertainment consisted
of patriotic songs, dances and
comedy. The dance program
consisted of more than three
dozen dances from Andhra
Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu,
and Telangana that portrayed
India’s diversity in the
Chicagoland community and
included a heart-thumping per-
formance from dancers of the
Shingari School who completely
captivated the audience.
In addition to the dance per-
formances, patriotic songs like
mere desh ki dharte sonaa
ugle,” “ye desh hai veer jawaano
kaa,” “saare jehaan se achchaa
Hidustan hamaara,” “aye mere
watan ke logon,” were sung by
Mahijit Virdi, Sheen Trivedi,
Ishan Ahmed, Pratibha Jairath,
Nipa Shah, and Mona Bhalla
and the comedy/ mimicry of
Bollywood stars performed by
Pankaj (Paul) Chopra and
Mohammad Samdani enter-
tained the audience immensely.
Suhanee Patel, one of the top
10 contestants at the National
American Miss Nationals 2015,
was also present at the event.
In addition representatives
from various community organ-
izations attended the event
including Gujarati Samaj of
Chicago; GOPIO; Rajasthani
Association; PCS; Socrates
Ponnusamy, Chicago Tamil
Sangam; Kannada Association;
Chicago Malayalee Association;
Bihar Cultural Association,
Gandhi Samaj of Chicago; FIA
Chicago; Lohana Samaj, and
Chicago Darzi Samaj.
While the attendees
expressed their thanks and
appreciation for the organizers,
Mukesh Shah thanked every-
body for making the event suc-
cessful and memorable and
thanked sponsors,including
Strike X Lane, Metropolitan
Asian Family Services SR
International, World’s Money
Exchange, Air-India, Power Volt,
Medstar, Suga Builders, New
York Life, Vinakom, IIA Group,
All State, Patel Brothers, Rely
Services, Dimple Beauty Salon
and Adara Salon.
Patriotic Fervor At Republic Day Celebrations In Illinois
T
Members of FIA Schaumburg at Indian Republic Day Celebrations Jan 24 at Ashton Banquets in Willowbrook. Right, children performing Rajasthani Dance at the celebrations.
FIA Chicago Brings Together Community To Mark 67th Republic Day
By Urvashi Verma
T
he Federation of Indian
Association hosted the
67th Republic Day of India
celebrations Jan. 26 at Shalimar
Banquets, Addison, Illinois.
With more than 750 people from
the Chicago and surrounding
suburbs in attendance, the cele-
brations demonstrated the
unity, patriotism and sense of
community among Chicago’s
Indian-American community.
The MC for the evening was
FIA secretary Sanhita Agnihotri
who opened the programwith
heart-touching patriotic poems
and conducted proceedings
with great professionalism and
grace.
The patriotic celebrations
commenced with an honor
guard ceremony which invoked
the strong feeling of pride remi-
niscent of celebrations in India.
After the official honor guard
walk and the singing of the Jana
Mana Gana, the crowd proudly
chantedVande Matram. It was
followed by the lamp lighting
ceremony by the FIA executive
committee, trustees, and digni-
taries.
Consul General of India in
Chicago Ausaf Sayeed, who was
among the chief guests, urged
the Indian-American communi-
ty to think of the example of
India’s diversity as a way to unite
the local community.
Sayeed said that “India,
despite the huge diversity 22
official languages, 2000 dialects,
multiple religions, different cul-
tures across 29 States and 7
Union Territories, from Kanya
Kumari to Kashmir and Gujarat
to Assam, has been united in its
pursuit of its national goals, so
why should it be so hard for the
local community to achieve
unity as well and that he was
delighted to see the support
frommembers of other organi-
zations at the event.”
Debra Silverstein, Alderman
of the 50thWard of the City of
Chicago talked about the contri-
butions made by the Indian-
American community in
improving the safety, beautifica-
tion and economic well-being of
the 50th ward, adding that “I
have known and worked with
many of you for years and being
a part of this celebrations feels
like being with my family.”
Congressional candidate Raja
Krishnamoorthi fired up the
crowd with a riveting speech
thanking the first generation
elders for their sacrifices in mak-
ing the Indian-American com-
munity what it is today.
“It is on your shoulders that I
am able to stand today and
bring a voice for Indian-
Americans to our political sys-
tem. I promise that I will not
forget you.”
Guest of Honor, Niranjan
Shah, Chairman and CEO,
Globetrotters Engineering
Corporation and FIA trustee,
spoke very humbly and talked
about the power of the youth
and the future rests on their
accomplishment and ideas. In
addition, the much-loved Bharat
Barai, trustee and past FIA presi-
dent spoke about the great stew-
ardship of India’s Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and how “India
will indeed emerge as the
world’s greatest super powers
under the stewardship of
Narendra Modi Bhai.”
FIA Chicago executive committee members at the official oath-taking ceremony conducted by
Judge Anthony Simpkins Jan. 26 during the Republic Day Celebrations.
