LONG ISLAND, NY (TIP): Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s Office with Indian American Forum Founding Member Dr. Bobby K. Kalotee and Chairwoman Indu Jaiswal, on June 5, brought the community together to celebrate “Indian American Night – Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” at the Eisenhower Park, in the presence of Several Nassau County Officials – Legislator Steven D Rhoads, Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips, Nassau County Parks Commissioner Darcy Maccarone Belyea and Cindy Gillen, Events coordinator Nassau County Parks. The event was Emceed by Flora Parekh with Jyoti Gupta and Indu Gajwani as program coordinators Over 100 fascinating dancers, melodious singers and Bollywood performers rocked the event.

Several distinguished community leaders, students and achievers were honored by Special Citations. They included:
• Dr. Harshad Bhatt – Orthopedic Surgeon & Chief of Arthroscopic Surgery at Boulevard Surgical Center
• Neetu Chabra – Entrepreneur and leading Retailer in Mobile Phone Business & Champion Folk Dancer
• Rachna Shahadpuri – President of Rotary Club of Jericho & Past President of Overseas Sindhu Sabha
• Phanibhushan Tadepalli, M. Sc. – Sr. Nuclear Medicine Technologist at Lennox Hill Radiology
• Taranbir Kaur – Vice President, Citibank, Vice President, Citibank, IVF-Kiran Bedi Organization in USA
• Dr. Raman Mitra – CEO Piezocap, Inc. & Assistant Professor of Department of Cardiology
• Jasbir Bawa – Community Activist & Educational Assistant at elementary school with bilingual special Ed kids
• Krishnasri Gandham – Board of Director for NYTTA (New York Telangana Telugu Association) and President for Telangana chapter for IOC (Indian Overseas Congress)
• Jaymin Shah – President of VTNY – Vaishnav Temple of New York

• Alpesh Patel – Sr. Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs and Head of Strategic International Expansion at Amneal Pharmaceuticals LLC.

This year’s event celebrated 75 Years of India’s Independence – “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” – an extraordinary program with over 75 artists (almost reached 100!) showcasing authentic, traditional Indian culture and dancing from all over India – East, West, North and South. Performers aged 3 Yrs. and up mesmerized the audience with their non-stop rocking presentations for almost 3 hours portraying true Indian American Culture – Home away from home.
Performances were choreographed by distinguished Dance Schools and Choreographers across NY to name a few – Choreographers Jyotika Patel, Shilpa Mithaiwala (Rhythm Dance Academy), Shilpa Jhurani (Arya Dance Academy), Satya Pradeep, Sadhanalaya, Mudra School of Arti Dutta, Savitri Anand by Mykhtambar Fine Arts, Nrityanjali School of Dance, Anuradha Khanna & Group, Swaralahari, Singers Gautam Chopra, Dr. Sanjay Sahay and several more.
Several community leaders and IAF Board Members graced the event – to name a few Animesh Goenka, Shashi Malik, Mohinder Taneja, Jasbir (Jay) Singh, Vijay Goswami, Rizwan Qureshi and many more. The event was generously covered by several print and TV media. Additional information can be found at www.indianamericanforum.org.

(Based on a Press release)