History - Celebrate India Inc.
"Celebrate India" as an Victorian organization was the vision of 4 key members - Messer T J Rao, Arun Sharma, Virendra Berera, and late Martand Joshi. The idea was to bring in the richness and colors of the Indian culture to the hearts of wider Australians of Victoria and decided to begin with the biggest festival of India, “Diwali” also well known as the festival of lights.
From the onset, Celebrate India was well supported by some very experienced and known people such as Mr. George Lekakis, Mrs. Jaya Sharma, MP Hon. Hong Lim and the first Consul General of India in Melbourne, Mr. Butshikan Singh who volunteered their time and provided guidance to make this event a great success.
This vision took firm roots in Melbourne in 2006 when the Diwali event of Celebrate India became an instant success story right from the very start. Even in its first year, VIPs such as Lord Mayor of COM Hon. John So, Chairman of Victorian Multicultural Commission Mr. Lekakis, the Counsel General for India and many Victorian MPs such as Hon. Hong Lim & Marsha Thompson attended the event. The event concluded with the longest (25 Minutes) and most spectacular fireworks at the banks of Yarra.
The event also created history by lighting and bringing to life the major landmarks and iconic buildings such as the Victorian Parliament, Melbourne Museum, Melbourne City Hall, Federation Square, Royal Exhibition Building, Flinders Street Station, St Paul’s Cathedral and SBS Radio for the first time ever to celebrate this Indian festival.
Australia Indian Business Council (Vic) joined in and organized a Diwali dinner at the RACV club attended by many business and political leaders.
It was widely sponsored by the City of Melbourne, Victorian Multicultural Council, Primus Telecom and SBS. Approximately 37,500 people attended the event, turning it into a grand success, besides making it ‘the second biggest community event at Federation Square.
This year Diwali festivities were extended and celebrated over two weeks period and a Bollywood film festival was co-sponsored for Diwali providing a real Indian feel to this festival. The success story of this Diwali event was mentioned in the Victorian Parliament.
An inaugural, Victoria wide Lighting Competition also started this year for all Indian Business to join in and light up their buildings for 10 days and were judged by an elite panel for various worthwhile prizes. In its first year we had over 90 entries. ( see past event for more information/photos)
In 2008, this event witnessed the rarest spectacle when for the very first time in Victoria, important political dignitaries such as the Premier of Victoria Hon John Brumby, Lord Mayor of Melbourne John So, Consul General for India Ms. Anita Nayer and the Opposition Leader in Victoria, Hon. Ted Baillieu came together on the same stage to jointly officiate the event as flower petals showered down on them.
This event ran over 10 days and received a significant recognition when it joined the Melbourne International Arts festival and held its opening concert with internationally renowned Sitar maestro Kartik Seshadiri.
More than 40,000 people of wider background attended the Diwali event, setting a record for any ethnic organization to draw such numbers in Melbourne and making it the biggest Diwali celebration in Australia.
The 10 days long lightening competition was extended for homes as well along with the business and was getting momentum and continued to spread out of Melbourne to over many cities of Victoria.
The year 2009 saw even more first ever events such as participation by many organizations such as Scouts Victoria, the Gujrati Association of Victoria (GAV), Rajesthani Kutumb & the Bengali Association (BAV) & the first Bollywood magazine launch. A biggest Bollywood dance workshop was conductedbythefamous Shaimak Indo Jazz dance group and was attended by many Victorians.
The event got further recognition when the Indian Government sent a traditional dance troupe from Manipur to participate in this event. A charity initiative was introduced by collaborating with the Breast Cancer Foundation to raise funds and awareness of Breast cancer among Victorian community of south Asian background.
This year again saw the presence of the Top brass in Victorian and Indian Governments as well as many prominent business leaders such as CEO of the Melbourne International Airport among many others.
This year more than 60,000 people attended the Diwali festivity setting a new record not only in Victoria but for all Australia.
Its success is further highlighted when VMC included DIWALI as a major Indian festival held in Victoria, in their 2010 calendar for the first time. It was also a theme for October in the Cancer foundation’s calendar for 2009. It also caught the eye of the international media including the India’s prime print media such as times of India & Express and TV such as NDTV, UK via Sunrise Radio and Times in USA as well as in many European countries via net news.