Napervillans go to town to mark I-Day

BY A STAFF WRITER

All highways, roads, lanes and bylanes, it seemed, were leading to Naperville with Indians trickling in colorful dresses, head gears irrespective of cast, creed or religion – It had to witness a historic

gathering of more than 15,000 Indians from across the state lines and far-off places.

Naperville Indian Community Outreach association organized and celebrated 70 th India Independence Day on August 14 in Naperville.
The celebration, preparation, execution and participation by the community has outclassed all the previous celebrations of any kind and have raised the bar to a new height of standard, quality and number of participants, volunteers, executives and attendees to a new horizon.
The celebration was in continuation of the grand tradition of Naperville for the last two years, and attracted the attention and participation by City of Naperville elected officials, City hall and Mayor, including all the civic agencies.
CHEERFUL UPROAR
The vibrant fusion of patriotism, nationalism, sound, music, song and proclamations by elected officials warmed up the ambience to a cheerful uproar by more than 15,000. The crowd swelled to 20,000 by the fall of evening.
The India Independence Day celebration started sharp on time from Naperville Central High School with more than 80 participations from various groups and states of India showcasing their cultural and musical uniqueness. The precession included motorbikes, floats, cars and individual groups.
All the floats and groups were thronged with people chanting patriotic songs and raising slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”.
The spectacular procession terminated at Knoch Park, which took almost two hours with thousands of participants and thousands of by-standers and onlookers on both sides of the street. People had thronged the floats and both sides of the roads for hours to witness the historic festivity of Independence Day.

 

STAR ATTRACTIONS
One of the star attractions of the event was Sunidhi Chauhan, an accomplished Bollywood playback singer for than 20 years. She has a score of hits under her belt which include folks, regional, dance numbers and songs with poetry and strong social message.
Sunidhi who earlier stood on float to witness the parade at sharp at five, started her musical journey of the night at eight which continued non- stop for more than three hours. Her silky voice and choice of songs mesmerized the crowd.
Keerthi Ravoori, Harish Kolasani, Kishore Mehta, Dr Sanhita, Shirley Kalvakota, Ena Agnihotri and Jiji Thomas- the specialized team of Desi World TV was elated at the launch and prospective future of TV and entertainment to community.
The event of India Independence Day was also attended by many community leaders and successful entrepreneurs including Mafat Patel, Amrit Patel, Bhavesh Patel, Balwinder Singh, Dr Bharat Barai, Younus Suleiman and the future Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy.
UNITY IN DIVERSITY
Mayor of Naperville Steve Chirico, mayor of Burr Ridge- Mickey Straub and Mayor Gopal Lalmalani of Oak Brook attended the parade and were seen intermingling with the crowd and stayed up to late hours to enjoy and participate in festivities.
They relished the mystic of Indian music and songs. Lt Governor of Illinois Evelyn Sanguinetti, Chief Guest of the event, hailed the unity in diversity of India and Indians.
Congressman Bill Foster and Senator Mike Connelly were also part of the parade and celebration.
The festival ground had more than 50 booths of varied kind, including jewelry, financial services, real estate, up-coming Dream Team concert to long que at food installs.
The food vendors were happy at the attendance and one of them commented that he never expected such a huge participation by Indian community at any event in last ten years. Nearby Gas Station employees were happy to witness the influx of Indian men and women in multi-color dresses, multi-language and still in a disciplined manner to attend the event. No untoward incident was reported though the security and police presence was at its minimum- which authenticate the humbleness, discipline and culture of Indian community.
SELFLESS VOLUNTEERS
Many national and regional promoters and sponsors participated financially and otherwise which included Hi India, Patel Brothers, Naperville Tech. Companies, Haldiram’s, Arlington Rental, Suga Builders, Nicor Gas, All State, Shreeji Veggie Fest, and many more and received worth their salt.
The team of Krishna Bansal, Chairman of the NICO, a political aspirant from Naperville, and his selfless team of volunteers are all being saluted by the community for their efforts to raise the standard bar of celebration, festivity, financial commitments, discipline and organizing skill which was at par with any of the highest organized event.
Others who worked tirelessly for many months to make it happen included Viral Shah, Rahul Saigal and Chirag Jani.