Big Apple to get a big bite of India

NEW YORK: The Big Apple is set to get a big bite of India. New Yorkers will savour Indian song and dance, food and fashion, feel India's incredible energy, hear about the nation's march into the future, even see a Taj Mahal replica at a multi-venue festival in September to celebrate 60 years of India's independence.

Called Incredible India @ 60, the Sep 23-26 festival in Manhattan has been organised to coincide with the September session of the UN General Assembly in New York that is attended by thousands of delegates from across the world.

The mega festival has been organised by the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Culture of India, and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Co-hosts for individual conferences and panel discussions include BBC, National Geographic Channel, Columbia University and Asia Society.

A mini Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, celebrating the Indian diaspora, inaugurates the festival. This event has been organised by the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and CII at Pier 60 on the Hudson river waterfront.

The opening ceremony of Incredible India @ 60 will be held at the prestigious Lincoln Center with a specially choreographed production of music and classical dances of India.

The sand sculpture of Taj will be on view at the Port Authority Bus Station, New York's main bus terminal. Its creator is Sudarshan Patnaik, known for his sand sculptures.

An 'Incredbile India' exhibition of photographs by Steve McCurry will be hosted by the National Geographic Channel at Bryant Park Hotel. Bryant Park in midtown and South Street Seaport, a mall-cum-museum on the Lower Manhattan waterfront, are the arenas for dance and music.

The folk forms coming from four corners of India include Bhangra, Garba, Yakshagana, Sufiana and Rangeela Bihu.

Bollywood, which used to be barred from India festivals of yore, also finds its well-deserved place here. Bollywood Live and Mumbai Masala will feature contemporary dances from Indian films.

There will be fusion music too - created by Remo Fernandes, Colonial Cousins, Louis Banks, Sivamani and others.

And New York Library is to host a sarod recital by Amjad Ali Khan and his two sons, Amaan and Ayaan.

Bryant Park is the venue for fashion shows by leading Indian designers such as Ritu Kumar, Raghavendra Rathore and Wendell Rodericks. Indian handicrafts and handlooms will also be on display there.

For a culinary experience of India - culinary demonstrations, tasting of Indian food and beverages - New Yorkers can go to South Street Seaport. Top chefs such as Manjit Gill and Hemant Oberoi are flying down for this event and Indian restaurants in New York will offer special menus and gifts to their customers during the event.

Conferences and panel discussions will focus on the socio-economic progress made so far in India and the roadmap for the future.

India Conference with the Asia Society will be held at New York Hilton Hotel. And Columbia University in collaboration with the Earth Institute hosts a conference on India's looming water crisis.

'Cherishing Democracy, Sharing Prosperity' is the title of a panel discussion organised by BBC World and moderated by Tim Sebastian, presenter of Hard Talk show, to be held at the New York Metropolitan Library.

Yale Club hosts two panel discussions - 'India 2050-A Grand Strategy for India Rising' and 'Women and Global Leadership'.

Travel + Leisure magazine presents an interaction with the travel trade honchos at Hotel Pierre.

Private events and receptions have also been organised by the Rockefeller Center, Citigroup and Louis Vuitton Store, 5th Avenue.

The entire event is being promoted by an advertising campaign that includes outdoor publicity, daily programme cards and e-mailers.

The scale of the festival reflects the importance of the US travel market to India. In the current year, the number of US tourist arrivals is estimated at over 850,000 - 18-19 percent of all tourists coming to India.

Besides the New York festival, the tourism ministry is holding a one-day event in London on Sep 2, showcasing the country's wealth in terms of art, music and creativity.