Telugu star Adivi Sesh is currently in New York to represent our country for the Independence Day celebrations. On August 14, Adivi Sesh pulled the ceremonial lever to illuminate the Empire State Building in the Indian tricolour, in association with the Federation of Indian Associations. The iconic New York landmark will glow in saffron, white and green on the eve of India’s Independence Day.
On August 15, at the Times Square at 10 AM, Sesh will join the Consul General of India in New York for the flag-hoisting ceremony at Times Square, organised by the Federation of Indian Associations. The ceremony will be followed by patriotic songs, dances and cultural festivities, filling Times Square with the spirit of India.
On August 16, Sesh will participate in the India Day Parade on Madison Avenue, from 34th Street to 23rd Street—the largest India Day Parade outside India. He will ride on the America 250 float alongside elected officials, before taking his place at the podium and waving to nearly 55 passing floats, as an estimated three lakh people line the streets waving Indian flags and cheering for India.
Speaking from New York, Adivi Sesh says, “I think it’s just especially momentous for me, Sir, because I remember when I was a kid, it was in the late 90s, Amitabh Bachchan sir was the chief guest for the FIA, he was the Grand Marshal. And I remember a bunch of my friends, everybody, all of us, you know, we would go to the nearest store to get those Kodak disposable cameras to take those photographs with him. All my friends were doing that and I was too shy to go in. But, you know, and we were trying to get admission into the dance program so we could perform in front of him.
And now Sesh is standing where Mr Bachchan once stood. “This idea that, you know, today, I’m going there as the Grand Marshal, just, it feels like life has come full circle. So there’s lots of memories associated with this event for me as a kid growing up in America who loved his Indian heritage.In addition to that, I think it’s just, you know, this idea of pulling the lever on the Empire Building and the tricolour unfurling the whole building lighting up in the Indian flags colours. You know, my first sense of patriotism and identity, I remember there was a show called Namaste America, it used to come on the weekends in the States and I saw A. R. Rahman’s Vande Matram song for the first time as a kid. And I don’t know why I was standing and watching. Whenever that song would come out, I would stand up. So I just feel like for someone who found his patriotism for India while living in America, this is a very momentous occasion.”
