By IANS
New York : About 500 people, including Indian Americans like author Kiran Desai, packed into the consulate here to celebrate India’s 60th anniversary of independence in a short function sans frills or a cultural gig.
After the national anthems of India and the US were played, India’s Consul General Neelam Deo Wednesday read out passages from President Pratibha Patil’s Independence Day eve message to the nation.
Deo then invited Kris Kolluri, transportation commissioner of New Jersey state, to the dais. He is the highest ranking Indian American official in the US government who officiated as New Jersey governor for a day in December last year.
Kolluri praised India “where rule of law has continued to prevail for 60 years”.
Amongst those in the gathering were Suketu Mehta, author of “Maximum City”, Harry Anand, mayor of Laurel Hollow, a village of the super rich in Long Island, Vijay Nambiar, chief of staff under UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and Meera Gandhi, philanthropist and businessperson.