Indian community celebrates culture
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday August 18, 2017 15:39
The celebration kickstarted with beautiful performances from Somadas Paicattu and Group. The crew treated the chanting audience to patriotic songs. The Indian children followed with a drama performance titled Tiranga Hamara, the myriad of patriotic play from different regions eulogises history, culture, traditions, significance of the flag and the freedom struggle.
Varsha Ravi, Nayana Iyer, Srindhi Ravi and Shobana Gurusubramanian also treated the audience with a fusion of Indian cultural dance. They dedicated their performance to all the Indian people across the world. Their performance stole a lot of attention from the revellers.
Prem Patil also took his fellow countrymen back to home with an excellent performance. He sang Mere Mulk, Mera Desh and Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka songs that got the Indian community who took part in the event singing and clapping in excitement. Giving his remarks, the acting High Commissioner Chellappan Gurusubramanian extended good wishes to the Indian community across the country.
He explained that his country became a free nation on August 15, 1947. He said sovereignty and the responsibility for their destiny moved from the British crown to the people of India. “Some have called this process a transfer of power. It was much more than that. It was the culmination of a dream for our country, a dream seen by our freedom fighters. We were free to imagine and build our nation anew,” he said.
The acting high commissioner further called on fellow Indians to unite and care for each other. He said the spirit of empathy and of social service and volunteerism was very much alive in India. He added that there was a sense of caring, sharing and interdependence amongst the Indian community where neighbours helped one another and instinctively got help from them in return.
“There are so many people and organisations that work quietly and diligently for the poor and disadvantaged. They are nation builders in action and we need to draw inspiration from them. They are nation builders in action, and we need to draw inspiration from them,” he said. Gurusubramanian further explained that in Indian tradition, when there was a wedding in any family, the entire village shared the responsiblity and contributed.
He said regardless of the caste or community, the bride became the daughter of not just a single family but of the entire village. He added that neighbours and others living in the village looked after guests, and took charge of different arrangements. He said contributions came from many families.
“One family would send food grains for the wedding, another would send vegetables and a third would arrive with some other item,” he said.