The ‘India Day’ celebrations organized by the Indian High Commission, London in collaboration with Navnath Center was a wonderful glimpse of India’s rich cultural heritage, diversity and unity. More than 20,000 people participated in this grand event and enjoyed Indian culture, art, traditions and delicious cuisines from different states.
In the programme, various states of India presented the culture, tradition, art, food and unique identity of their state through their respective stalls. The cultural diversity from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Gujarat to North-East India in one campus truly embodied the spirit of ‘One India, Best India’.
The program began with the unfurling of the Indian Tricolor by His Excellency Shri Periyasamy Kumaran, High Commissioner of India. After this, thousands of Indians sang the national anthem in unison, which filled the entire atmosphere with a feeling of patriotism and pride.
On this occasion, His Excellency the High Commissioner praised the Indian communities living in Britain and said that the coming together of Indian communities from different regions, languages and cultures to celebrate this huge festival reflects the true spirit of India.
Uttar Pradesh Community Association (UPICA UK), representing Uttar Pradesh, specially presented the rich culture, traditional flavor and development journey of the state. UPCA UK General Secretary Ashwani Srivastava welcomed His Excellency the High Commissioner at the Uttar Pradesh stall and informed him about the important initiative of the State Government “One District One Product”.
Santosh Pandey, Rajesh Vishwakarma, Rajiv Gupta, Arun Choubey, Pankaj Mishra, Subhash Baranwal, Ashish Mishra and Yogesh Pandey of UPCA team welcomed many distinguished guests, MPs and community members who came to the stall. Showcasing the traditional hospitality of Uttar Pradesh, the team served puri and halwa to more than 2,000 guests throughout the day, which was greatly appreciated by the visitors.
A major attraction of the function was the cultural presentation of Uttar Pradesh. The unique fusion of Kathak and folk dance presented on the song “Ram Aayenge” enthralled the audience. Saanvi Srivastava, Vanshika Gupta, Bani Nagpal, Ayaan and Riya received a lot of applause from the audience with their brilliant and energetic performance. This captivating presentation was directed by Vaishali Nagpal.
The attractive decoration and product exhibition of Uttar Pradesh stall also became a topic of special discussion among the people. Nishtha Dwivedi, Piyushita Gupta and Monica Chaubey displayed products from different districts of Uttar Pradesh very effectively.
Madhuresh Mishra said that events like India Day provide an important opportunity to connect the new generation living in Britain with their Indian roots, culture and traditions as well as present India’s cultural diversity and social unity to the world community.