The Indian Panorama

Tag: IDP USA

  • Great enthusiasm in community for 10th India Day Parade in Hicksville on Aug 8

    Great enthusiasm in community for 10th India Day Parade in Hicksville on Aug 8

    Ambassador Jaiswal, film star Kajal Aggarwal and Dr Jay Sarkar are Grand Marshalls.

    GARDEN CITY, NY: The 10th India Day Parade of Long Island to be held in Hicksville, NY on Sunday, August 8, 2021 to celebrate India’s 75th Independence Day has generated great enthusiasm among the Indian community, said officials of IDP USA, organizer of the parade, at a press conference on July 28 at Mint Restaurant in Garden City, NY.

    Tens of thousands are expected to march in the parade and cheer it from the sidewalks as it starts at 1 PM from Patel Brothers and walk down the Little India part of Hicksville to culminate near Asa Mai Hindu temple on East Barclay Street where the entertainment stage will be set up with a live DJ as well as stalls selling ethnic goodies and food. Admission is free.

    : IDP USA Past President and current Vice President Jay Jasbir Singh implored the community and community organizations to support the parade with presence and generous contributions

    Consul General Randhir Jaiswal, who had graced the parade curtain raiser at the Indian Consulate on June 24, is Grand Marshall. Renowned film star Kajal Aggarwal and Philanthropist, Entrepreneur and Life Consultant Dr Jay Sarkar will also lead the parade as Grand Marshalls, informed Deepak Bansal, President of IDP USA, who thanked the IDP USA office bearers and committee chairs for working day in and day out to make preparations for the massive parade.

    Mr. Bansal thanked in particular active support and guidance from Jasbir Jay Singh, under whose presidency the parade in 2019 and the gala that followed were the talk of Long Island. Mr. Bansal implored the community to open their hearts and wallets as this parade is expected to be super-successful, coming as it does after last year’s parade during the peak of the pandemic and was restricted to a car rally.

    IDP USA key officials with a co-founder Bobby Kalotee

    The parade’s four Guests of Honor are: internationally renowned oncologist and Padma Shri Dr Dattatreyudu Nori, Diwali Foundation USA Chair Ranju Batra, Navika Group CEO and President Naveen Shah and young guru and motivational speaker Ishan Shivanand.

    The names of honorees at the parade and at the gala will be announced subsequently.

    A highlight of the parade will be a raffle, where the top prize is a car sponsored by DP Singh of Meetu Magic. Other exciting prizes include jewelry, smartphone and cash.

    The parade this year is supported by top brands and names as Grand Sponsors including Phalguni Chintu Patel, Shiv Yog, Navika Group, Bolla Market, The South Asian Times, CheapOair, Patel Brothers, Vass Pipe, The Portables Choice Corp, PICC, Flushing Bank, Maharaja, Badshah, Commercial Capital Funding Group, Elevator the movie, Indian Visa Center, Omni Mortgage, and HAB Bank. Several media organizations are also supporting the parade by promoting it.

    A view of the gathering

    Addressing the press conference attended by representatives of leading newspapers and electronic media, IDP USA Founders Bobby K. Kalotee and Kamlesh C. Mehta said that this parade is special as it is celebrating India’s landmark 75th Independence Day and that it is timed well as pandemic restrictions have been lifted. It is also the only parade in the entire New York state.

    Past President Jay Singh implored the community and community organizations to come one and all to the parade in Hicksville on August 8 and support it by way of taking out floats and booths as well as booking ads in the souvenir which will be released at the gala celebrating the success of the parade at Antun’s by Minar on Thursday August 19, 2021. 30 booths and 9 floats have already been booked.

    Dr Jay Sarkar said he is honored to represent India and the community, and that we should thank both India, our motherland, for our heritage and culture, and America, our adopted country, which allows us to practice our traditions and showcase them at an event like this parade.

    IDP USA was established in 2012 to create awareness of Indian contributions to the local community by celebrating India’s Independence Day every year. A 501(c) non-profit tax-exempt organization, its mission is to empower the Indian community through promoting economic development, education, community leadership, social advancement and environmental awareness. The non-partisan and secular IDP USA brings together over 100 religious, cultural, regional, and charity organizations serving the community.

    (Press release)

  • IDP USA Parade Revived after a Gap of Three Years ; Extreme Heat Prevents Large Attendance

    IDP USA Parade Revived after a Gap of Three Years ; Extreme Heat Prevents Large Attendance

    HICKSVILLE, NY(TIP): The organizers hoped there will be equally great enthusiasm among people as they had shown in organizing the parade which was revived  after a gap of three years. However, their hopes were belied. Extreme heat and absence of shade of trees along the route prevented many who wanted to join the parade, to stay indoors. The absence of large crowds was offset by the large presence of lawmakers and  elected officials. The entire brigade of Nassau County officials led by the County Executive Laura Curran  seemed to have descended as also the Indian Consulate headed by Ambassador Sandeep Chakravorty, the Consul General of India in New York.

    The Indian Panorama received from the organizers a press release which we are publishing here as received. We take no responsibility for any claims made and  mistakes therein.

    “Under the banner of India Day Parade USA the entire community of South Asian Indians gathered to celebrate the 73rd Anniversary of India’s Independence Day in Hicksville New York. Parade’s slogan this year was Jai Jawan- Jai Kisan to salute our soldiers and farmers and to celebrate the community, unity, heritage and cultural diversity of South Asian Indians.

    IDP USA organized the 7th Parade in Hicksville NY on August 4th, 2019 starting from Patel Brothers on Broadway and ending with festivities at E Barclays Street.

    They had celebrity Grand Marshalls, Honorable Consul General of India in New York Mr. Sandeep Chakravorty, Bollywood Actor Raj Kummar Rao, Mr. Naveen Shah – Navika Capital, Businessman Mr. Chintu Patel, distinguished Elected Officials Congressman Tom Suozzi and from Nassau and Suffolk  NY State Senators Kevin Thomas and Senator Anna Kaplan, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, Supervisor of North Hempstead Judy Bosworth, Supervisor of Oyster Bay Joseph Saladino, Supervisor of Hempstead Laura Gillen, Legislators Laura Schaefer and Rose Marie Walker, Minority Affairs E D Farrah Mozawalla, Suffolk County Human Rights Commissioner and 3 times Past President of IDP  Beena Kothari, Nassau Human Rights Commissioner Zahid Syed and others along with the President of the parade Mr. Jasbir (Jay) Singh, Mr. Kamlesh C Mehta, and several community leaders and invited guest Ms. Arti Patel, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Vass Pipe & Steel Co. Mr. Sunil Jain, Mrs. Chanchal Shah, who is the mother of Navika Group chief Naveen Shah, Advisors on stage, Indu Jaiswal, Sir Peter Bheddah, Beena Kothari, Mukesh Modi and other Committee members Mohinder Taneja,  Bina Sabapathy, Shashi Malik, Gautam Sanghvi to name a few for the inauguration and initiation of the parade at Patel Brothers. Satbir Bedi was the MC for the day. Breakfast was hosted by Patel Brothers and HAB Bank before the flag off.

    The South Asian Community has become an integral part and changed the face of Long island and made Hicksville a prominent, ever developing multicultural home for all Indians sharing pride, passion, presence and social bond as patriotic American Indians.

    A beautiful warm day with the whole crowd holding India’s Flag tricolor umbrellas sponsored by Mohinder Singh Miglani of Aero World marked Patel Brothers parking grounds. It was a sight to see as the parade later got flagged off with countless organizations from long island displaying pride and honor with marching groups and tricolor decorated festive floats sponsored by local organizations. The parade was led by IDP USA Indian National Flag bearers, Grand Marshalls and the IDP USA Committee in the biggest float in the parade as lead. The flowers were showered by helicopter on the full parade which mesmerized the local community and all Indian Community.

    At festivity grounds cultural dances by children and students of local dance schools performed at the beginning and other celebrities were invited to perform on stage after the parade reached E Barclays Street. Bollywood singer Mr. Deepak Kumar of Satellite India and Punjabi stage artist and singer Ms. Pooja had the crowd cheering, taking videos and pictures and joining the mood. A fashion Show by Nishi Behl and sponsored by Bhavna Sharma of Sarashiva gave a special romantic touch to the stage with upbeat music and beautiful clothes and glamourous ladies.

    BMW SUV sponsored by Mr. Naveen Shah of Navika Capital was the super prize of the raffle which had several other prizes including two 50” LG smart TVs made sure the crowd kept going back to the three IDP raffle booths. All prizes were drawn right there on stage and the BMW was won by an especially abled individual. The recipients of part proceeds were ‘Akshay Patra’ and ‘CRY’, two organizations that have led by example and changed the lives of thousands with their selfless mission for providing school lunch to poor children and for restoring children’s rights.

    IDP USA was started in 2012 and founded by Bobby Kumar Kalotee, Kamlesh Mehta and prominent community leaders. IDP USA 2019 was supported by a 108-member team, countless volunteers, Grand Sponsors like Food Universe, Posh Group Corp., Bolla Markets Group, Patel Bros, Omega Storage, Omni Mortgage, STI Consultants, food / retail / business vendors, advertisers, the media and the entire community.

    The success of the 2019 IDP USA Parade was celebrated by the community with a grand Gala at The Standard at North Shore in Muttontown and the Honor of Jewel of India was awarded to Mr. Naveen Shah and Mr. Chintu Patel and Lifetime achievement awards to Mr. Ravi Batra and Ms. Ranju Narang.