India Day festivity in Luxembourg
Group of ladies performing on the occasion of India Day Picture Courtesy: Christophe Delas
Indians in Luxembourg came together to enjoy the special day with various traditional treats and fun filled activities.
On September 16, 2017, Indian Association of Luxembourg organised an event to celebrate India Day. After the successful event last year, Ville de Luxembourg called upon the organisation to arrange the same event this year at Place D’Armes in Luxembourg City.
Indian Association of Luxembourg (IAL) is a registered association without lucrative purpose (ASBL), not-for-profit organisation, and has 14 members executive committee registered with Indian Mission in European Union (EU). “We have tremendous support from the government, local authorities as well as media,” said Niraj Trivedi, membership secretary of IAL.
The event received a huge response from Luxembourgers, foreign residents and tourists. Further, to grace the occasion with their presence, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, and the mayor of the city, Lydie Polfer were also there.
The day began with a speech by IAL’s president, Selvaraj Alagumalai, after which the programme officially begun. There were a lot of activities that one could try, like mehendi (henna painting), traditional Indian games like carom and pinwheel and photo session in Indian costumes at the photo booth.
This time the celebrations also included professional dance performances from the local community, live performances with traditional Indian instruments and lots of Bollywood music in between. The organisers wanted to depict the cultural side of the country through different Indian dance forms that generally gets overshadowed by Bollywood.
Further, IAL’s cultural secretary, Sunita Trivedi organised a fashion walk showcasing attires from various Indian states, from Kashmir in the north to Kerala in the south and Sikkim in the east to Gujarat in the west. “The whole thing was fabulous arranged by Sunita. Everything was so bright and beautiful,” said Rashmi, a participant of the fashion show.
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Vibrant costumes could be seen everywhere, there were stalls of handicrafts and speciality teas. Neha Poddar, a resident, who had herself set up a stall said, “It felt like home, there were traditional Indian cuisines to try. I had put a tea section in the drinks stall as I have an Indian Tea company called Udyan Tea.”
Neha, further added, “India day has been celebrated only once before, but I think it will become a tradition because of the popular demand. The occasion is an opportunity for all the Indians living in the city as well as the country to come together and celebrate their identity.”
The celebration was a way to showcase the diversity and the cultural heritage of India and taking the opportunity forward, Indian Tourist office from Holland had set up one stall for the promotion of India Tourism.
Christophe Delas, a resident, discovered the event last year and made it a point to capture the happy moments this year. “I enjoyed the dances from different regions of India. There were good food, henna workshops and many other booths to discover India. It was very nice and enjoyable and seeing people smiling and enjoying the event seemed like they were happy to be here and be a part of this community,” she said.
