IALA is a non profit organization. It was established in 1999 and its mission is to introduce, promote and enhance awareness of the heritage, culture and traditions of India through presenting various cultural and social events.

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India Independence Day Celebration
in San Fernando Valley
by Inder Singh

India Independence Day has been celebrated in the San Fernando Valley area on a grand scale since the year 2000.   

The population of Indian American community in the San Fernando Valley and the neighboring areas during the last thirty years has more than quadrupled. The Valley and the neighboring areas provide home to over 50,000 people of Indian Origin. The Valley has six temples, many Indian grocery stores, numerous restaurants, and other Indian American businesses serving the community. However, there was no non-religious event which could appeal to the entire community and bring them on one platform and under one flag.  

In May 2000, Inder Singh and Kumar Jawa of India Sweets & Spices convened a meeting of some fellow Valley residents and formed Festival of India Committee for the celebration of India's Independence Day. The  committee which spearheaded the first celebration, comprised of Inder Singh(Chair), Kumar Jawa, Krishna Iyer, Dinesh Lakhanpal, Maitrayee Ghosh, Harshi Gill and Poonam Sharma. Besides the executive committee, a band of dedicated and committed volunteers including committee chairs, Dr. Bama Sridhar, Gurdip S. Saran, Mohini Lata Kumar, the late Karamjit S. Grover, Rajesh P. Singh, Avtar Chadda, Mitra Sen Singhal, Rajesh Saini and over 25 co-chairs formed the working committee.  

I have been working with the community for many years and have come to believe that an individual howsoever brilliant, intelligent, experienced and hardworking, would find it difficult, if not impossible, to match the collaborative efforts of a cohesive team. I was very fortunate to have found such a group of committed individuals in the Festival of India Committee. I was also lucky to get the cooperation, help and support of Dr. Parvin Syal, Dr. S. K. Mishra, and Kanaiya Mahendra, Valley residents and past presidents of the Federation of Indian American Associations, the apex body that has been organizing similar events in Southern California. All of them willingly became part of the committee and used their experience and expertise for the success of the event. 

After visiting numerous possible sites for the celebration of India Independence Day, Pierce College, Woodland Hills was considered to offer the best facility. It could accommodate about seventy booths, over 10,000 people, had shade trees to sit under during daytime and a parking lot for over 2000 cars. The site, although part of the West Valley, was considered to be the best central place to attract the Indian American residents of San Fernando Valley, Ventura county(Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, etc), and West and North Los Angeles county. The committee decided to hold the celebration on August 19, 2000, in Pierce College. 

The organization of an event of this magnitude requires leadership, dedication and commitment. I, fortunately, found many devoted volunteers who spent countless hours with me in planning and organizing the Festival. In fact, the enthusiasm of the committee members was beyond belief. Some of them gave preference to the festival related work over their business and family calling. After becoming confident of the human resource, we needed another major element for the success of the event, money. Here again, we found owners of two businesses, eIndia.com (thanks to Kumar Jawa and Amy Ghosh) and Prime Time Shuttle (thanks to Rajesh Pal Singh) who were very generous in their sponsorship. These two sponsorships were however not enough to cover the expenses of the event. So, many members of the committee, as a group visited prospective donors to raise funds for the celebration. Some committee members, Kumar Jawa, Dinesh Lakhanpal, Gurdip Saran, the late Karamjit S. Grover, Harbhajan Samara and Pradip Choksi were also generous with their own contributions. The enthusiasm, the hard work and the missionary zeal of the organizing team paid off when over 10,000 people came to attend the Valley’s very own celebration of India Independence Day. 

The festival organizing committee wanted large attendance at their maiden attempt. Gurdip Saran volunteered to organize a publicity group and distributed thousands of flyers. All the three Indian Weekly newspapers, India West, India Journal and India Post carried full page advertisements for many weeks. India Journal even published a Valley Independence Day Supplement highlighting the Valley Indian American community and also highlighted the achievements of the first and the only Indian American U.S. Congressman, late Dalip S. Saund of California. The Journal also pointed out that although Indian Americans have infiltrated virtually every field of business, profession and expertise, the time has come to share the bastion of political power. Indian Americans have to manifest their talent in the corridors of Capitol Hill by electing one or more of their own who can identify their Indian heritage.  

The main theme for the organization of the festival was the celebration of India Independence Day. At the same time, we wanted to promote India’s culture and Valley’s Indian American businesses and also ensure that all the participants have the feeling of “Bharat Darshan”. Mohini Lata Kumar put together non stop cultural program showcasing India’s rich heritage of classical dances, the new wave of film song-and-dance and ever popular folk dances, such as Bhangra and Gidha.   Some restaurant owners and a few individuals rented booths and delighted visitors with mouth watering dishes from all parts of India. Boutique shops demonstrated the latest design in women apparel and probably made a large volume of sales besides advertising their existence in the valley to thousands who stopped at their booth. Some other businesses, insurance and travel agencies, rented booths to put themselves in front of the prospective valley customers, a great way to advertise. 

The Indian American community has a large number of highly qualified physicians. Dr. Shri Kant Mishra and Dr. Bama Siridhar representing the Tri-Valley medical Association brought volunteer physicians and nurses and organized a Health Fair and also conducted health seminars. Mrs. Deepi Singh offered her nutrition expertise for weight loss, cholesterol reduction and diabetes management using Indian foods.  

The American elected officials and the media added to the respectability of the celebrations. The function was inaugurated by Mike Antonovich, LA County Supervisor, representing the North Valley. Coincidentally, Mike inaugurated the first India Independence Day celebration in 1981 at the County Civic Center Mall. American media, Los Angeles Times, Daily News and two major T.V. Networks covered the event. In the evening, Congressman Howard Berman addressed the large gathering. Standing next to the congressman on the stage and seeing thousands of people, the organizing committee members could hardly contain their happiness at the success of their effort.  

The large number of Indian Americans who came to attend the Mela and the enthusiasm they displayed at the first such event in the Valley encouraged the organizers to plan additional similar functions. In January, 2001 India’s Republic Day was celebrated with a gala banquet.  

In 2001, Mahesh Parekh headed the celebration committee while Anna Ghosh took over the responsibility in 2002. She had to move the event site from Pierce College to Cal State University campus in Northridge where Raman Chadha, a student leader played a pivotal role. Gurdip Saran successfully organized the event in 2003 while Surjit Bassi took the leadership role in 2004. The co-founder of the association, Kumar Jawa became president and made the event remarkably successful during the two years of his stewardship. In 2007, Nirmal Jain took the event back to Pierce College. This year, the event will again be organized in Pierce College under the dynamic leadership of Raman Chadha. He has been making every effort to motivate volunteers and sponsors for another memorable celebration of India’s Independence Day on August 16, 2008. While a few members  from the original team, continue to provide experienced help, many new volunteers have taken over the key roles  and have been working enthusiastically.  Federation of Indian Associations has also joined hands to fully support the event.