The India Independence Day Celebration in Vernon Township earlier this month offered a local commemoration as the south Asia nation marked the 75th anniversary of its break from the United Kingdom.
Organizers estimate that about 2,000 people attended the Aug. 14 at William E. Peterson Park in Vernon Township, hosted by the Lake County Indians Association.
“India is celebrating Independence Day (Aug. 15) and that’s why we are gathering today,” said Gowri Magati, Vernon Township trustee and president of the Lake County Indians Association.
“It’s celebrating our independence, our freedom and passing our culture and traditions to our next generations and now to our children.”
Magati said Lake County has an Indian population that continues to grow
Independence Day is a national holiday in India, commemorating the nation’s independence from the United Kingdom in 1947.
“Unity and diversity, that’s what I would like to see,” Magati said. “We’re all having different cultures and different traditions, but at the end of the day, we are all working for the same purpose: to raise good citizens and be a good citizen. … We are all humans…mankind.”
Rekha Vemuri, the association’s vice president, said the local residents who hail from India are a long way from their home country and “really miss being there. However, the celebration in this country, like the one at the township park, allows for spending the day with family and friends.
“In India, it was a huge celebration,” Vemuri said of the independence day commemoration. “So we want to do the same things here. That’s why we are bringing the community together and enjoying.”
Vemuri offered a snapshot of how India has been faring over the 75 years.
“It has progressed very greatly,” Vemuri said with a smile. “You can’t imagine the progress that is happening.”
Eight Indian organizations from around Lake County collaborated on the event, and numerous sponsors assisted, according to organizers. More than a half dozen area elected officials appeared midway through the event, which also featured food for purchase, cultural programs and activities, dance and music.
Palak Chheda, of Buffalo Grove, attended the event with daughter and youth dancer Naisha Chheda, 5.
“It’s a great event to celebrate India’s independence,” Palak Chheda said. “I’m really proud that they’re bringing it here and getting the opportunity to celebrate it.”
Nilesh and Swati Agrawal, of Buffalo Grove, attended with daughters Myra, 5, and Shanaya, 7. Both girls are U.S. citizens, their father said.
Still, “they should know our culture,” the girls’ mother Swati Agrawal said.
Rakesh and Kalyani Khairnar, of Arlington Heights, watched their daughter Twinkle, 5, perform with youth dancers on a large raised stage.
“It is really important” to celebrate India’s Independence Day, said Rakesh Khairnar, the girl’s father. “I’m not in India right now but everybody’s celebrating.”
He explained that his daughter was born in the U.S. but “I want to make her bonded and rooted to her roots from India.”
Karie Angell Luc is a freelancer.
