FICSCand Lions Club-India of Little India celebrates India's 68th Independence Day

at  Buena Park, CA

Buena Park, California, Aug. 15, 2014
NRIpress-Club/DB/GS/Karen 

Federation of Indian Communities of Southern California (FICSC) and Lions Club of Little India organized a gala event to celebrate India’s Independence Day on August 15th at the Amaya Restaurant, Buena Park, CA.  Festivities began at 7:00 PM and ended around 11:45 PM with a turnout of more than 250 people. Audience came from different parts of Southern California to attend the event.

The program began with a Fellowship and Registration hour where the audience and the participants interacted with each other and had the opportunity to network and meet, greet old Friends and make new Friends or acquaintances.  Masters of Ceremony were three young adults namely Sakshi Walia, Ajay Shanmugham and John Sethi. Dignitaries Mayor Tony Lima, Ex-mayor Dr. Prakash Narain, water Board Member Harry Sidhu and Senior Diplomat Nilesh Shah were invited to the stage for the lighting ceremony. They were joined by FICSC Chairman Ajay Khetani, Co-chairman Mohan Sharma, President Raj Walia, Lions Club Chairman Dilip Butani and President Maninder Sethi.  Young kids were invited to the stage while this was done. 

American National Anthem and Indian National Anthem were beautifully sung by Priyadarshini Roy and Ami Khetani, respectively.  Then Secretary Amrit Bhandari invited the FICSC Chairman & co-chairman to the stage who in turn invited President Raj Walia. Raj gave a speech highlighting the India’s Independence Day and introduced his team on the stage including Siddarth Pathak, and Sumeeta Singh.

After that, the Lions Club Secretary Subbu Shanmugham was invited to the stage and he called upon the Chairman Dilip Butani, who welcomed the crowd for the celebration. He spoke about Independence Day and then invited Maninder Sethi who in speech emphasized the giving back to the community as a theme and introduced his talented team including Kantilal Shah & Ramesh Bhatt.

Subsequently the Dignitaries were invited to the stage and spoke briefly of the significance of the event and recognized the contributions via Leadership Awards to the following individuals: Raj Walia, Mohan Sharma, Ajay Khetani, Sumeeta Singh, Amrit Bhandari, Siddarth Pathak, Dilip Butani, Maninder Sethi, Subbu Shanmugham, Kantilal Shah, Sunil Tolani and KV Kumar. “ Our mother country India is the largest democracy in the world and world’s 4th largest growing economy,” said Tolani in his speech. “Many of us are privileged to be born and raised in India.”

Then Raj Walia invited Nilesh Shah to the stage who shared his experiences of technology including Nanotechnology.  Subsequently, Raj recognized Nilesh for his accomplishments via Leadership Award. Sunil in his speech mentioned that our mother country India is the largest democracy in the world and world’s 4th largest growing economy. Many of us are privileged to be born and raised in India.

Cultural performances were done including Classical, Bollywood, Bhangra and Odissi dances.  Then the crowd was entertained with songs.  This was followed by a Sumptuous and delicious dinner. Overall, it was a fun-filled day with Kids, Youngsters and Adults enjoying the event.

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