July 4th Celebrations in Castle Hills

I blogged about the American Independence Day celebrations at Castle Hills, Lewisville yesterday but I wasn't able to upload any pictures of the event. Here are some pictures of the event for your reference.

July 4th celebrations at Castle Hills

Independence Day! (Photo credit: CR Artist)

Yesterday was America's independence day and I visited couple of friends in a nearby city to participate in their community's celebrations. For a small residential community the celebrations were pretty well orchestrated. The center of attraction was a live band belting out hit numbers. There were numerous games for kids to play, bounce houses, and of course lots and lots of eating stuff in the form of food trucks, booths and vendors.

Fireworks #1 (Photo credit: Camera Slayer)

Of course the highlight of the evening was the fireworks display. The fireworks were staged near the commercial strip of community and we got lucky in finding a slightly elevated spot which served as a vantage point for viewing the fireworks. The display started promptly after dusk. In the beginning it was rather slow and staid but soon picked up tempo and started attracting applause from the viewers. It ended as quickly as it started. The good part was that from our location we could view the fireworks of two other communities quite well and as we watched we drew comparisons and the one in Castle hills was not as good as the other one.

Even so I believe the other display we got to see was a city organized event and funded by the government. The one we were attending was a community organized event and there is a definite disparity in funding so I guess it was a pretty good effort despite a rather mellow showing.

Happy Independence Day 2011

Image courtesy Rumela.com
Here is a wish to all my compatriots from India.

Wherever you live,
whatever you do,
whichever nation you are a citizen of....
remember your roots are always in India
Celebrate today - the independence day
a day for which thousands of valiant souls
left their mortal bodies in the face of
enemy bullets and gifted the nation
FREEDOM

American Independence Day Celebrations!

Having stayed in this country for three years this is the first time I went to view the American independence day... ooops.. the 4th of July parade and fireworks display. The parade was held at the historic downtown McKinney, it was short, colorful and intense. Everyone from tiny tots to senior citizens participated in the parade enthusiastically waving flags, clapping, cheering and generally being happy to be a part of this country.

The show of support by the people in this quasi-official celebration is pretty impressive. The population of McKinney and surrounding towns might be just over 150,000 but I am pretty sure at least 10,000 people were there to watch the parade. Thoughts took me back to Bangalore, India which hosts over 6 million people and not even 1,000 people turn up for the independence day parade. I wonder why?

Anyway here are some pictures of the parade:

Glorious Independence Day

Today my compatriots back home are celebrating my homeland's Independence day. A day when we emerged out of 1200 years of oppression, treachery, cruel exploitation of foreigners. I have been out of the country on this day since the past three years... here is hoping that next year I will be home to celebrate independence day. Of course Indians abroad celebrate this event more as a festival rather than remembering the sacrifices our founding fathers and mothers have made for our nation's independence.

Bharath Mata Ki Jai.

Independence Day Celebrations, Houston

It has been two years since I celebrated our country's Independence Day in India. Last year on Independence we were driving from Dallas to Los Angeles, this year we attended the India Culture Fest at Houston. Organized by the Indian Culture Society, Houston this annual extravaganza features dances, mostly Bollywood and fusion, singing, booths from profit and non-profit organizations and of course food.
This event was like several other Desi events I attended, the same old dances, same old costumes and same old crowds etc. The same old boring MCs who have no clue what they are doing. There were few changes though, the first positive change was that there was a performance by a Mariachi band. The band belted out three desi numbers, two Hindi and one Kannada. That was a heartening and positive change that I felt that India is making some kind of impact upon other cultures.
The other aberration I noticed was during the performance of a so-called desi band. It was Independence Day the band should have started the performance with a patriotic number, but no, they start off by singing Zubanallah..... I was shocked to hear that and for the next half an hour song after song it was Shah Rukh Khan all the way. I wonder when Indian's will ever learn to be patriotic??? This is one of the reasons I don't like to attend celebrations in the Pakistani-dominated Texas.

Happy Independence Day!

Today, as India celebrates its independence day, I sit in the US where several people are celebrating Pakistan's independence. It is still 14th in the US but I am missing the celebrations because this is the first time I am NOT in India on the Independence Day. Feeling nostalgic I was browsing the net for patriotic songs and videos and this is one of the best videos I found on You Tube. I hope you will agree.

US Celebrates its 232nd Independence Day

A very happy indepdence day to all my readers from the US and those who are not from the US but still who respect and love this continent-sized country, the sole economic, military, espionage, infrastructural superpower of the world. Here are some cool graphics to celebrate independence day of the US. Well... What can I say, I am here alone bored and with nothing to do except dig my nose in books or watch unlimited movies/ browse the internet/ read books. There were several July 4th celebrations around town but since I didn't have any company and the parking everywhere was very expensive I chose not to go. Instead I sat in the apartment cybercafe almost all day and watched two Hindi movies. And of course I did some cooking and eating too. And then I washed the car... I didn't have to dry the metal mule because the heat of the evening sun vapourised the water drops on its body in a matter of minutes. Now that the day is almost over... I will head home and sleep off to prepare for tomorrow... hopefully I should go rollerskating and then continue on with the day.