Indian Gymkhana London Sunday 16th August 2015 Indian High commission, London had co-ordinated the celebration of Indian Independence Day at the Indian Gymkhana at Osterley. All Indian organisations in London had been invited to participate in the celebrations. The objective was to create an event where the Indian community can spend a day out for celebrating and to be entertained by the cultural performances from the various regions of India along with having an opportunity to taste the culinary specialities of different regions of India. The Institute of Jainology representing ONE JAIN participated in the event and shared the stand with a group of Gujarati organisations.
HE the High Commissioner of India, Shree Ranjan Mathai arrived at 11:00 and hoisted the tri-ranga Indian flag with rose petals dispersing in the air. This was followed by the crowd singing the Indian National Anthem of jana gana mana. His Excellency delivered a speech suited to the occasion and drew on quotations from the speech of the PM, Narendra Modi, on the progress of India.
The crowd was then entertained to cultural performances on the stage. Ladies from the One JAIN group, who had been practicing their item for several weeks under the supervision of Shri Sudhaben and Dr Vinodbhai Kapashi, presented their item starting with the NAVKAR MANTRA followed by VANDE MATARAM. These two dances had attracted the loudest and longest applause from the appreciative audience.
Then people started moving to the grounds where about 70 stalls had been setup. The National Congress of Gujarati Organisations [NCGO] were joined by One JAIN and four other organisations to serve the flavours of Gujarat to the public. It started with gota, dhokala, khichi; then khichadi, dahi and shak; One JAIN added marble ladoos to the rich variety; hot and cold beverages were also served through NCGO stalls. The queues continued to form and an estimated crowd of 7000 were moving from stall to stall to taste the foods of different regions of India. IoJ volunteers had arrived by 9.00am to help set up the stalls and prepare the serving tables. They continued to serve the food well in to early afternoon. Once again Gujarati food had proven its popularity. H E the High Commissioner was also going round the stalls and took a break at the Gujarati stall to taste the various offerings.
An Indian dance artist took a liking to the Gujarati stand and started teaching the passers by various Bollywood dances. The lessons were taken up very enthusiastically and soon a a large number of passers by joined in livening up the atmosphere.
Institute of Jainology are pleased to have represented One JAIN at this popular event and thank all those who had the joy of participation in it. Sincere thanks to the volunteers, the cultural event team, and those who contributed voluntarily to support the event.