Big Apple gets Incredible taste of India60

Four day extravaganza showcases India8217;s soft power and its four Ds

Where the mind is without fear8230;,8221; intoned Kabir Bedi, in his characteristically deep voice. He then added that he did not write those lines himself, although he wished he had. The comment drew a titter from the 2,700-strong crowd that had gathered at the Lincoln Centre8217;s Avery Hall at 5.30 Eastern on Sunday for the event that Bedi was anchoring 8212; the inauguration of the four-day Incredible India60 extravaganza.

This was India projecting its soft power with all the resources 8212; financial and cultural 8212; at its command. As six fully wrapped buses and 150 taxis plied New York8217;s avenues, dressed up in the colours and scenes of 8216;Incredible India8217;, and as large posters of Kathakali dancers stared down at pedestrians on the street, inside the hall classical dancers from six major dance traditions of the country were setting the stage alight in a visually impressive display choreographed by renowned dancer, Madhavi Mudgal.

The seriousness with which the government took this event was made unequivocally clear by the attendance of four Union ministers at the Avery Fisher Hall function. Besides Pranab Mukherjee, Union minister of External Affairs, who was the chief guest for the evening, there was Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Minister of Trade and Commerce, Kamal Nath, and Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi.

Apart from them, there was the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and chief ministers Tarun Gogoi and Pawan Kumar Chamling, as well as India8217;s ambassador to the US, Ronen Sen. There would have been a fifth minister here if the Sethusamudram controversy had not raised its head. Union Tourism Minister Ambika Soni8217;s absence was of course conspicuous, but her contribution to the event was warmly commended.

In his address, Pranab Mukherjee praised the effort as an 8220;outstanding endeavour to showcase India8221;. He clearly perceived it also as an opportunity to project India8217;s diversity. 8220;Sixty years is a short span in the life of the nation. Yet in that span, India has emerged as an example of a vibrant democracy. Our diversity is our greatest strength,8221; he said.

Sunil Mittal, president of the CII, underlined the four Ds which made India special: democracy, diversity, demography and development, and referred to its market of 630 million 8220;consumers8221;, a figure that is estimated to touch 813 in 2015.

But clearly the most popular speaker of the evening was US Senator of New York, Charles 8216;Chuck8217; Schumer, who spoke with great enthusiasm about India 8220;getting more incredible every year8221;. He added, to a round of applause, 8220;We hope we are here to celebrate Incredible India70.8221;

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The event ended with the guests invited to partake of the flavours of India8212; special fare prepared by five master chefs of India. Speaking to the Express, the former joint secretary of tourism, Amitabh Kant, explained that the whole idea of this event was to differentiate India from other countries, in order to give it a distinct character.

When asked how much the Government of India had incurred on this massive exercise, he said that while the tourism ministry8217;s annual outlay of Rs 7-8crore was now being spent in a focused way for events like this, it was the financial support from the CII that had made Incredible India60 possible.

8220;This is a public-private partnership,8221; he said, 8220;Through it we hope to penetrate markets 8212; not just in New York or America, but in the heart of the globalised world.8221;