61st Republic Day of India FICA Celebration January 30, 2010
The Cleveland Indian community and friends gathered together at Embassy Suites on January 30, 2010 to celebrate the 61st Republic Day of India. The FICA (Federation of Indian Community Associations of NE Ohio) event focused on Six Decades of Democracy and Six Decades of Progress.
Kul Bhusan, Asim Datta, Venky Venkatesh and Anjan Ghose of FICA
The event began with a social hour where the hundreds of guests enjoyed appetizers (Samosa, Pakora, Seekh Kabab, etc.) from the Saffron Patch.
Rita Singh and Pradip Kamat
Then, Master of Ceremonies and FOCA Board member Asim Datta welcomed the attendees. The national anthem of the United States was performed on saxophone.
The Indian Anthem was then led by two students from CWRU
Then Asim Datta welcomed Dr. Chittaranjan Jain, Chair, Board of Trustees of Federation of Indian Community Associations of NE Ohio (FICA) who gave an overview of the state of the Indian community in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.
This was followed by Sudarshan Sathe with a reflection of six decades of India and a look to the future.
Next, Asim Datta reflected on the death of Gandhi and remembered him with a prayer song that the Mahatma loved.
This was followed by a presentation of Awards led by Dr. Ramesh Gehani.
The first award was the 2009 FICA Youth Recognition Award and the winner was Anamika Veeramani.
Anamika Veeramani accepts the 2009 FICA Youth Recognition Award
Dr. Ramesh Gehani explains the annual Federation of Indian Community Associations of NE Ohio (FICA) Awards. The 2009 Youth Recognition Award went to Anamika Veeramani.
The next award was the Friends of India Service Award which went to Sree Sreenath, president of Sewa International.
This was followed by the 2009 Exemplary Service Achievement Award given to Anjan Ghose
The final award was the Lifetime Service Achievement Award given to Rita N. Singh.
Rita called her husband up to help celebrate the award.
The award ceremony was followed by an entertainment program titled Six Decades of Show Biz Gems. Highlights of 6 decades of Indian entertainment were featured with music, dance and video images on 2 huge screens. It was terrific!
After FICA President Venky Venkatesh gave a Vote of Thanks, the buffet dinner (Lamb Lahori, Tandoori Chicken, Shahi Panir and much more excellent food from the Saffron Patch) began.
The rest of the evening was spent talking with new and old friends and dancing to the music.
