Press Release

Contact:

Rajen Anand (703) 642-3156

Lal Motwani (718) 470-1026

Thomas Abraham (203) 561-6473

Radha Krishnan (248) 682-2106

Pramod Kamdar (858) 538-0666

Memorable 25^th anniversary celebrations of nfia

In new york

With a spectacular 180 degree view of the city, the 16^th floor restaurant, Terrace on the Park in Queens in New York, was the unique venue for a Gala banquet held on Saturday May 29, in connection with the 25^th anniversary celebrations of the National Federation of Indian American Associations (NFIA), an umbrella organization of various organizations of people who trace their roots to India. Over 300 delegates and guests, coming from all parts of the United States were treated with sumptuous dinner, breath taking entertainment and stimulating remarks from the NFIA officials and Indian diplomats.

Twenty-five years ago, on the Memorial Day weekend, the NFIA was founded in New York. The organizers wanted to memorialize that moment and celebrate its 25 years of service to the Indian American community. NFIA that has faced many ups and down in the last few years as a result of internal bickering appeared to be a vibrant organization on solid grounds, with a cohesive team of officers committed to serve the community. It was indeed a memorable event for all those who attended the celebrations. NFIA was infused with new healthy blood that is bound to reenergize the largest umbrella organization in the United States.

Lal Motwani who was, as the chair of the 25^th anniversary celebrations, the main force behind this function and the editor of a 4-color souvenir released at the event said, “I could not have done this function without the financial support and dedicated service of my organizing committee. I am particularly indebted to my Co-chairs, Thomas Abraham, Arvind Shah and Sunjay Naik and to my many financial supporters, especially Navin Mehta, P.K. Gupta of Air India, H.R. Shah of TV Asia, Sunil Hali of Indian Express, Kenny Desai, Mukund Mody, Jack Kapur, Darshan Bagga, Jitu Hirani, and Ramesh Kalicharan. I also want to acknowledge the tireless hours contributed by Ritesh Veera, Kiran Hari, Leela Maret and Jaswant Mody.” He added, “these people were the backbone of the program.”

The event emceed by Mehta started at 7:00 p.m., with an open bar, such luxury rarely seen at the Indian functions. Each couple was provided an opportunity to be photographed in one corner of the lobby. The attendees were served a large number of Indian snacks and were seen rubbing shoulders with Indian diplomats and exchanging cards with other people.

The delegates and guests were escorted into the dinning room at 8:30 p.m. The hall was decorated so well befitting the birth anniversary of the NFIA. A large colorful cake with the logos of the NFIA was cut to signify the birthday of the organization. Virtually all past presidents were on hand to join in the celebrations. Rajen Anand, the president of the NFIA praised all past presidents for vision to start and sustain this umbrella organization that accepts membership from all organizations, irrespective of their religious, regional, ethnic, professional or political affiliation. He said that organization truly represents the cultural diversity of India.

“Twenty five years of existence of an organization is not in itself a significant event. What is most important of NFIA is the loyalty and commitment of the people involved in the group,” observed Anand. “Indian Americans have changed, their needs have changed, and their demands for service have changed. NFIA has also to change if it, as it claims, wants to serve the community. It has to change its focus from the ‘India based’ issues to mainstream concerns. We have similar needs as any other American. We breath the same air we want it to be clean; we drink the same water we want it to be pure; our children go to the same school we want them to provide the best possible education; we walk on the same streets that we want to be safe; many of our seniors depend on social security and it is in our own interest that the system remains solvent for our children. The sooner we start addressing these mainstream issues, the better our community will be in the United States,” emphasized Anand.

In eloquent remarks, Ambassador Sen pleaded with the people to become good citizens of their adopted country, but not to forget their roots. “Be proud of your origin,” insisted Sen. He said that the economic prosperity of the Indian Americans has helped a great deal to change the image of India. Today, India needs your experience, she does not need your money, said Sen. We, in India, have plenty of money. He explained how Indian Americans are able to make huge profits by investing money in India. Sen paid a tribute to the contributions of Indian Americans towards strengthening cordial relations between India and the US. “It was one the best speeches I have heard from the Ambassador,” said an attendee after the speech.

All the past presidents, Thomas Abraham (1980-1988), Inder Singh (1988-1992), Ramesh Patel (1992-1996), Subash Razdan (1996-1998), Haresh Panchal (1998-2000), Parthasarthy Pillai (2000-2002) and Niraj Baxi (2002-2004) were honored by the NFIA at the occasion. Each one of them was given a beautiful glass plaque acknowledging his service. The past presidents were subjected to a very humorous Roast on Friday evening.

A special award was presented to Joy Cherian, the former Commissioner of EEOC, and the speaker at a seminar earlier on Saturday. Unfortunately, Cherian was hurt by a fall soon after he delivered his speech. NFIA also paid a moving tribute to Lal Motwani, the chair of the 25^th anniversary celebrations. “His enormous contributions to the success of this program are beyond description. He has spent sleepless nights and foodless days in organizing this event,” said Anand. “The NFIA is very grateful to him, to his team, and to his family for their hard work.” He added.

A seven year old girl, performing a solo dance, stole the show and won a loud applause during the brief entertainment program organized by Dharmatma Saran and Kalpana Patel.

Pramod Kamdar, the executive vice president, NFIA summed up the sentiments of all delegates attending this event when he said, “the great success of this event has made NFIA alive and vibrant organization again.”

A colorful souvenir released at the event traced the pictorial history of NFIA. “It is the best souvenir, I have ever seen being released by an Indian organization,” commented Niraj Baxi, the chair of the NFIA Foundation.

SEMINARS ON SATURDAY

Abraham, the founder of the organization, organized seven seminars all day Saturday on different topics. The first seminar was on the Community Leadership: Experiences and Expectations, at which Joy Cherian, Thomas Abraham, Piyush Agrawal, Niraj Baxi and Nilesh Mehta traced the history of Indian organizations in this country and talked about how the community was mobilized for specific actions. Parmatama Saran moderated the seminar. Cherian gave a warning to all associations that unless they change their focus to mainstream issues and involve the younger generation, they will all perish. This was followed by a seminar on US-India Relations: Progress made and challenges Ahead. Those, who spoke on this tropic, were Dennis Kux. Senior Policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center as keynote speaker, Inder Singh, Subash Razdan and Radha Krishnan as panelist. Maya Chadda moderated the discussion. Kux and Razdan painted an optimistic picture of the state of relations between India and Pakistan. The seminar generated a lively question answer period. The third session was on Indian Writers in America in which prominent writers residing in the US presented the various challenges facing them. The speakers were Susham Bedi, Rohini Ramanathan, Abha Dawesar, Vijay Seshadri, Jawahara Saidullah, Raju Thomas and Bindeshwari Aggarwal. The session on Political Empowerment was moderated by Sree Sreenivasan included Aziz Haniffa, Upendra Chivukula, Joseph Melookaran, and Ravi Sakhuja. Delivery of Services to the Community seminar was compered by Sudha Acharaya and the panelists included Theresa Thanjam, Sambhu Banik, Ashwani Chowdhary, and Rajeshwar Prasad. Two other seminars were held on the issues facing Indian American businesses and Indian American Youths. Sushila Gidwani, Sid Gautam, Victor Khubani, Subhash Roy, Krishnan Chittur and Surendra Kaushik were speakers at the business seminar. Moderated by Karthik Ramanathan, the Youth seminar had Krupalee Shah, Paayal Mahajan, Sahil Khurana, Rohini Ramanathan, Phil Mock, and Anand Shah. Each of these sessions had thought provoking and stimulating discourses and generated a great deal of discussion at the end.

Thomas Abraham, the founder of the NFIA ably coordinated these seminars.

INAUGURATION ON FRIDAY

The delegates and guests gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Friday evening. After the American and Indian anthems, Ambassador Ronen Sen inaugurated the program by the lightening of the traditional lamp. Congressman Gary Meek of New York gave a powerful speech, telling the audience that he has the highest number of South Asians in his district and how pleased he was by their support. Rajen Anand and Ashok Madan took the podium and gave a power point presentation of the activities of NFIA over the past 25 years. They also roasted the past presidents by hilarious anecdotes based on exaggerated weaknesses of each person.

“Lal Motwani worked day and night to put this program together,” remarked Anand. “The crown of success goes on his head. Without his hard work and support from his family, this celebration would not have been possible.” Lal who appeared very tired on Friday was seen beaming with happiness on Saturday evening, forgetting all his tiredness, after seeing the success of the program.