East-West Times…Information you desire

Indian Independence day was celebrated in a pompous ceremony in Jacksonville FL. It was amidst a cloudy and a little drizzly afternoon on Saturday August 16, around 2:30 pm that a group of volunteers gathered at a local parking lot to decorate the trucks for the Independence Day parade. The trucks were decorated very nicely within an hour in beautiful Indian Flag colors. One of the trucks was adorned with alternating Indian and American flags all around.

The crowd started gathering at around 3:30pm and the festive mood set in quickly. The parade started a few minutes after 4:00pm at the junction of Bay Meadows Road and Old Bay Meadows Road in the Southside of Jacksonville. The gathered crowd of over 300 people, many of them in traditional Indian dresses, chanted slogans like “Vande Maatharam” “Bharat Maatha ki Jai” and songs like “Saare jahaan se Accha” with greatest enthusiasm. Groups of dancers presented Bhangra style dance to the beat of Dhol. The parade, which ended at about 5:00pm at the junction of Bay Meadows Rd and Southside Boulevard was a great success and was immensely enjoyed by the whole crowd.

This was followed by cultural program in an auditorium in University of North Florida. The events included fancy dress competition, skits, dance and Music and was concluded with Antaakshari in Hindi Movie songs.

This program was led by organizers of India Cultural society with enthusiastic help and support from most of the local Indian organizations.