BURLINGTON, MA— India Association of Greater Boston, known as IAGB, will celebrates India’s 76th Republic Day on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, with the theme of “Mission Shakti – Call for Equity & Justice.”
Venue: Burlington High School – 123 Cambridge Street, Burlington Ma 01803
Date: Saturday, Jan 25, 2025
Time: 12 pm – 7:30 pm.
Since its founding in 1962, IAGB has been the single largest unifying force for over 100,000 Indian American Community in the area. IAGB has helped maintain a strong sense of heritage and community for Indian Americans of all ages and backgrounds by helping them come together and celebrate traditions.
As the oldest non-profit Indian American organization in New England, the IAGB has relentlessly served the needs of Indian American communities all across New England. This celebration on Jan. 25 reflects how a strong sense of heritage and community collaboration can result in a large and successful gathering.
“As the President of the oldest and the largest Indian American community organization, I stand committed to uphold the community as a place where we care for each other, act with dignity and integrity and can enjoy superior quality of socio-cultural, civic & educational activities & endeavors, community service, Pan-India engagements as well as integrate and collaborate with the larger Asian community,” said IAGB President Tanu Phoenix. “From its inception till date, IAGB has played a pivotal role in creating and holding on to the ethos of community building as manifested through its vision, mission, aspirations, charters, and the spirit of equity and acceptance. Hence, I would like to pledge stronger collaborations between Indian & Asian American achievers and the Indian American community in the Boston area.”
Chief guest will be Smita Amin Patel, a trustee of the Peabody Essex Museum.
“We are humbled that someone like Smita would be our event’s chief guest endorsing the compelling theme of our event: Mission Shakti – Call for Equity and Justice,” said IAGB Vice President Nilesh Agrawal.
Danielle Kim, director of the Asian Community Fund at the Boston Foundation, will receive the Community Champion Award.
“IAGB values Danielle’s extraordinary contribution as a community activist, her thorough understanding of the critical issues surrounding racial and social equity, housing, economic empowerment and education, and her meaningful pursuits to bring Asian Americans together in support of the systemic changes much needed to make our community stronger are forces to reckon with,” said Ms. Phoenix.
COMPETITIONS: 12:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Vice President Nilesh Agrawal stated, “We will have 6 exciting competitions offering the Indian diaspora a chance to actively exhibit and hone their talent in a variety of skill areas, namely, Art Competition, Antakshari Competition, Chess Competition, Story Telling Competition, Math Competition, Desi Fusion Food Competition, and of course, our greatly popular Teeny Tiny & Junior Sharks Competition.
CULTURAL PROGRAM: 3 pm – 7:30 pm
President Tanu Phoenix said, “We have a very compelling theme for the 2025 Republic Day Cultural Program this time – ‘Mission Shakti – Call for Equity & Justice’, endorsing equal rights, resources, and opportunities for women and other genders. This includes:
· Equal representation
· Fairness
· Understanding gender bias
· The right to live free from violence and discrimination.
“Watch how the Indian American community’s local dance schools and performing groups have come together in a meaningful and inclusive way with their super-talented performers to showcase unique, crowd-pleasing performances in our cultural extravaganza highlighting the compelling theme of ‘Mission Shakti – Call for Equity and Justice’ as well as patriotism for India through music, songs, dance medley, dance drama, a ‘never seen before’ grand finale dance ensemble followed by a high energy singing concert in tune with the event theme and patriotism, performed by NorthEastern University’s youth music band “Sanskriti,” added Ms. Phoenix.
Two Special Felicitation Segments to look out for
1. Felicitation “Woman of Shakti” – We will bring up on stage and felicitate a group of chosen women achievers from various realms of work within the community, who have personified equity &/or justice for women and stood tall as “Shakti” over the years through time.
2. Felicitation of past Presidents of IAGB: IAGB Presidents, from the organization’s inception till date have played a pivotal role in creating and holding on to the ethos of community building as manifested through its vision, mission, aspirations and charters.
“So at our opening event of the new year of 2025, I want to celebrate “US”, the captains of the ship, the chief executive heads of our beloved organization IAGB,” said Ms. Phoenix.
VENDORS: 1:30 pm – 7 pm
IAGB Vice President Agrawal stated, “We have enabled a vast array of vendors who will be there at their booths for the community to shop and explore at. Our vendors will be offering mouth-watering Indian food, products & services like health checkups, life insurance, community assistance, educational services, financial services, real estate, Indian dry snacks, clothing, Jewelry, accessories, sweet treats, booths from community non-profits with pressing causes, and much more.”
SPONSORS
Deepak Garg, IAGB Treasurer stated, “We are grateful to all our Sponsors who are making a large-scale event like this possible. We are grateful to our CORPORATE SPONSOR – Atamian Honda, our FOOD PARTNER SPONSOR – The Treasury: Indian and Greek Kitchen Restaurant, who will be serving mouth watering Indian food at the event. We are lucky to have 2 EVENT SPONSORS this time, namely, Silver Sponsor – Evergreen AFC and Bronze Sponsor – Swati Patel – Santana Team.”
OUR MEDIA PARTNERS
Manishbrata Bhowmick, IAGB Secretary expressed gratitude to IAGB’s Media Partners! He said, “Our strong media partners significantly increase our event’s visibility and reach by promoting it through their established platforms, enabling us to tap into new audiences, generate buzz, enhance credibility, and potentially attract more attendees!”
· India New England News
· TV ASIA USA
· Lokvani
· Mera Sangeet.