Hundreds gather on Dundas Square for India Day parade
Blog exclusive, by Evgeniya Kulgina
Delays on subway lines didn't slow down the hundreds of spectators who gathered at Dundas Square in Toronto to celebrate India's Independence Day on Saturday. At around eleven in the morning the square was already full of the green-white-and-orange cheerfulness of Indian flags, joined by the bright apparel of the parade participants, who represented peoples of various regions in India.
For Srikanp Nayak, it's the first Independence Day parade spent away from his homeland. He and his family came to Canada four years years ago, but he couldn't make it to the celebration until this year. Today Deeksha, his daughter, is on stage performing a classical Indian dance she'd been practicing for several weeks especially for the celebration. Deeksha's father hopes the festival will become a platform for his children to learn more about their homeland's culture.
Kokila Brahmbhapt - her eyes shining with pride as she watches Indian performances on the stage - says she doesn't consider herself a newcomer to Canada anymore. She spent 37 years in the country and has been attending the festival ever since its start five years ago. The festival is a chance for her to meet old friends and relatives. "I'm proud that I'm Indian, but I'm a Canadian, too," - she says with a smile. "Canada is a multicultural country, there are people from all over - from East and West here, and we are all having a good time."
The organizers of the parade hope to make it as big as the Caribana festival some day. Ajit Khana, a co-chair of Panorama India, an organization that started the parade, says in the beginning it had only 2 floats, and this year there are eleven of them proceeding down Yonge Street.
The celebration attracted a diverse crowd to Dundas Square. Susan Hopkinson and her two kids, Canadians who now live in Belgium, didn’t intend to go to the parade at all, but stopped at the square to get a henna painting and to taste some Indian food. And how could you possibly not drop by, when a big plate of steaming rice and delicious curry was available right there, for only four dollars?