Wednesday, 18th August 2004
India Parade
On the 15th of August there was a parade organised by the indian community here. The parade was part of the celebration of India's independence 57 years ago. This was the first time ever that such an event was taking place in Cleveland. The parade started at Public Square (where most events commence) and was to end at University Centre of CSU.I was supposed to volunteer for the parade but due to the fact that i didn't have an indian ethnic dress (which i had left in my sisters house in columbus) and also that i didn't show up on time i did not volunteer. The reason for not showing up on time was that we had just that morning started moving into our new apartment after signing the lease the previous afternoon.
The parade was to start at 11 AM.When i arrived at public square (15 mts late) the parade had just begun. There were about 2000 people from the indian community walking in the parade escorted by cops for their safety. There were the usual set of ABCDs (American Born Confused Desis) and Gujjus (trying to flaunt their wealth by wearing expensive saris, jewellery etc). The rest were mostly CSU students with the odd sprinking of locally settled desi folks, sponsors etc. Everyone was dressed up in ethnic wear (execpt me of course which made me feel like a fish out of water) and the whole scene looked very nice. Many americans and local residents who had lined the streets (and the ones in the car who were stopped to let the parade pass) were bewildered to see so many people dressed up and waving flag, singing and dancing. "Oh how lovely .... so much color" and similar reactions were heard from them.
Meanwhile the participants are trooping along either singing or dancing or waving flags. Chants of "Vande Mataram" and "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" fill the air. I see more astonished onlookers. We then reach the University Centre building of Cleveland State University (CSU) which is the final destination of the parade.
One of the reasons for such a large turnout (especially among students) was the fact that we were misled to belive that there would be lunch for $ 1. Much to the dismay of the students the $ 1 was only for the entry fee and lunch items were sold seperately for $ 3-4 per item. Then there was a speech by the president of the indian community and the sponsors who were responsible for organising the event. This was followed by the national anthem of India and the US.
This was to be followed by cultural events which i did not attend because there was lotz of work to be done back in our new apt and the events didn't enthuse me. And to add to my woes i was hungry as hell, so back to the safe havens of my new apt was the way to go for me.
My take on the whole event is .... to most of the indian community who have settled here .... fine .... go ahead and organise such events to rekindle memories of India and evoke nostalgia etc, but pleaz cut out the patriotic crap such as ("I love my country so much", "I miss India so much" etc) .... if you love your country so much what the heck are you doing settling down here. Dont make a farce and please cut out the rhetoric talk. If you really want to re-connect to your roots then you are more than welcome back home in India. Jai Hind.
Posted by Nikhil on Wednesday, 18th August 2004 in Fun | Events | Life in general