I exactly do not remember when was, the last time I attended an Indian Flag Hoisting. Probably when I was doing my PUC 2nd year, when I visited my cousin's school ( SDM in Daramastala)...WOW that like almost 7 years ago. Even before that at School the Independence Day (15th August) and Republic Day (26th January) were usually holidays.
Here in LSU, the ISA people had organized Flag Hoisting on the eve of our 64th Independence Day; and we were all sent an e-invite to attend this event at 5:00PM CST at ICC (International Culture Center ; this is the mother organization under which individual country organizations are present like ISA for India).
Hari, had already given us a KT on the events, as I guess its monotonous each year!!! So Pri and I after lot of plannin,g decided to wear Salwar-Kameez for the event. Incidentally I had an Orange Kurta ; Gifted for my last Birthday by Anoop (my best buddy) and Apeksha( with whom I share a very unconventional friendship). And as usual since white is my favourite color I had a whits bottom and a duppata. So I was done with 2 colors of our National Flag, to do it the "Arpitha way", I used a Green rubber band to complete my attire.
When Hari came to our apartment to pick us up we were ready!!! and he said we looked "Glamorous"; do not what is the definition of Glamor in his dictionary.
Anyways, we drove to ICC and were there by 5:00 PM. People started flowing in the by 5:30 PM the program started. It was total nuance, with all the useless plagiarized speeches. But the Flag Hoisting was fun, and I stood there with fellow Indians on a foreign soil and sang our National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana..." with pride. This was the 1st time I got to know that in US before you hoist a Foreign Country Flag we need to Hoist the US Flag, wonder if this is applicable back in India as well.
So after the flag hoisting, most of the crowd disappeared - Lucky Them. Again a round of Speeches, 2 Kids performed with their Violin ( This was good) and some students sang "Vande Matharam" not to my expectations.
During these boring parts of the event, I derived my entertainment by playing with a 1-2 year old kid called Adya. Her parents are doing Post Doc here., Tamillians; from Bangalore. So finally after dragging the event like a chewing gum, it was concluded and we came to the kitchen area where refreshments were served; Samosa (the smallest size you can get), Gajar Ka Halwa ( No Comments ), Lays Chips ( No where close to our Indian Version) and cool drinks. I am not criticizing the food, I just want to add in my thoughts ;-). I do appreciated the fact that this much was provided in a place so far away from Indian with limited resources be ii Human or Financial.
While we were having the snacks a couple of people came up and spoke to us, and after a few minutes we left ICC. At the parking lot since we were wearing Indian Clothes we took a couple of snaps and headed back home.
I probably would not attend a similar event next time, just because I could not relate to it. But given a chance I might end up only for Flag Hoisting & Singing our National Anthem.
One more thing I forgot to mention is, I learnt that most of the Indian Freedom fighters like Gandhiji, Subash Chandre Bose, Sarojini Naidu are people who were educated abroad, just like us ( THE LSU Indian Students)...Do not know why but I felt good hearing it!! :-D...Call me non-sensible :-P....Anyways Happy Independence Day to all Fellow Indians. I did celebrate it in a better way than I would have back in India.
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