My Back to Back Indian Events: World Hindi Day and Republic Day

- January 11 and 27, Saturday and Monday.

- 2025 entered fast and one wink it's already March. However, despite the stress, I could say that 2025 so far has been nice to me (and I wish it remains nice to me). January alone was already filled with surprises, including my back-to-back Indian events, courtesy of the Indian Embassy.

- One the 11th of January, I was invited by the Indian Embassy to deliver a speech in Hindi as part of the World Hindi Day celebration at the Embassy's BGC office. I feel honored to be remembered by the Indian Embassy because it's been a while since they invited me to participate in an event. They needed a Filipino (not of Indian descent) who can speak Hindi and should be able to impart the importance of learning Hindi. As usual, I shared my journey that started when I was a young boy who liked watching Indian shows on cable TV without understanding anything, to my high school days when I learned Hindi by myself, until the time I had to formally learn Hindi with a tutor as part of my requirements for my master's degree. I think I surprised the audience, mostly Indian students studying in the Philippines (majority for a medical degree), and especially friends and acquaintances from the Indian community who for some reason did not know I spoke the language. 

Happy World Hindi Day!

H.E. Harsh Kumar Jain, Ambassador of India to the Philippines.

Special thanks to Ms. Jamil, Embassy staff, who took these nice photos of me.

It was an honor to be given the chance to speak in front of the Ambassador and his wife, as well as the Indian community.

- Apart from my speech, as well as representatives from the local and expat Indian community who also shared how Hindi meant to them and their careers, the Indian Embassy also held a Hindi poetry contest for children and adults. The whole program was simple yet meaningful; it became even better after we all feasted on some amazing Indian food afterwards!

With the participants of the poetry contest, as well as the Indians who were present during the event.

- Fast forward to two weeks later, I was invited to join the Indian Embassy in celebrating the 76th Indian Republic Day, which coincides with the 75th anniversary of the bilateral relations of India and the Philippines. It was held at Shangri-La The Fort, and graced by various representatives of foreign missions, the Philippine government, as well as the Indian community. It was not only a good excuse to be dressed to the nines, but it was also an opportunity to meet other Indian friends I have not seen in a while. It was also a good time to remind everyone that I am an Indian Studies specialist, as there are not a lot of us in the Philippines. Most importantly, I was able to meet the ambassador once more, as well as the Indian diplomatic corps.

Thank you so much for inviting me!

I realized how long it had been since the last time I attended a fancy event.

- The event also featured performances from both the Indian and Filipino performers in celebration of India's rich culture. And as it was Shangri-La, the Indian food served was some of the best!

A classical dance performance; I think this was Kathak.

With some performers from Enchanted Kingdom.

Representatives from the Indian community showcasing wedding clothes from different regions of India.

With Ambassador Jain, and his wife, Mrs. Vandana Jain.

 

- The night ended sooner than I thought. Time permitting, I would have wanted to talk to more people, although I also found it difficult to just talk to random people (especially high-profile people). It is through these events that I get to meet and learn more from other people. However, it was still January and surely there are more Indian events lined up for the rest of the year! 2025 seemed to be a year of surprises, and I hope more good surprises are coming my way! 

Welcome to the Ambassador's Home: The 66th Republic Day of India - A Day for the Indians, and Me

- January 26, 2015, Monday.

- The chance to visit a foreign ambassador in his own home is rare. It is even rarer to be invited by a foreign embassy to visit the ambassador in his home. (Maybe the chances are higher if you were a migrant or a long term temporary resident, and your country's embassy in that foreign country would invite you for something; that would seem more relevant and understandable.) For me, I received such an invitation last Saturday from Dr. Suresh Kumar, from the political, press, information and culture section of the Indian Embassy in the Philippines. He invited me to join the flag hoisting event, held today at the ambassador's house to celebrate the 66th Republic Day of India. More about this later.

- The "Republic Day" of India should not be confused with the August 19 Indian Independence Day, when India became free from British rule, and the day Pakistan separated from India. The Republic Day is celebrated to remind the Indians everywhere that the constitution that made India a "republic" took effect on this day in 1950. In the Philippines, this Indian holiday is celebrated annually, with the ambassador inviting all Indian nationals to his home for a flag hoisting event, some words from the president of India, and of course, some refreshments.

- Today, I went to the ambassador's house, and changed into my kurta and Nehru vest. Thank goodness Metro Manila's public transportation did not fail me this morning, so I was able to arrive earlier than expected; the flag hoisting was held at 9am, but I arrived around half an hour earlier. I was able to have some small talk with the ambassador, and some Filipino and Indian employees/staff from the embassy. The ambassador's wife reminded me of my Hindi teacher; she was very meticulous with details, and wanted to make sure that everything was perfect before more visitors arrived.

The ambassador's wife, her daughter, and her friends.

- The event started right after the official photographer for the event arrived. The ambassador, H.E. Lalduhthlana Ralte, first released the balled-up flag, with confetti bursting as the flag was opened. I sung the Indian national anthem together with all the Indians; come to think of it, other than the Filipino embassy staff, and the security guards, and the photographer, I was the only non-Indian "guest" to be there.

- The ambassador then delivered the speech by the current president of India, President Pranab Mukherjee. The speech stated that despite all the negative things that is happening to India, and what the world knows about India, India should continue to strive to be better, step out, and stand out.

The flag was opened; too bad there was no wind to show the flag.

H.E. Lalduhthlana Ralte delivering the speech of President Pranab Mukherjee.

- Before the refreshments, Dr. Suresh Kumar went to the podium for a few announcements, one of which, involved me. The embassy held an online photo contest recently, with the theme of "India in the Philippines." The instruction stated that all entries should be something that reminds people of India (places, people, food, etc.,) and should be shot in the Philippines. I submitted three entries, and fortunately, one of them won. The prize was an Canon SLR camera, with a complimentary bag and tripod; the ambassador also gave out a book on India (with a lot of nice pictures of different places in India) in addition to the main prize.

Receiving my prize. 

My friend Roshan took these photos.

- After the awarding, we were invited to the poolside for some light snacks. The pool was inside the side, so we all had to enter the main door. The main door had a table placed in front, and had a big pile of books on primary Hindi, small Hindi/Punjabi novels, children's story books in Hindi, some coffee table books on India, and other books of the same theme/nature; they were all for free and we could get any book we wanted. Of course, I got as many books as I need since I couldn't find those kinds of books here in the Philippines.

Small Indian flags ("tiranga") at the gates.

- Many people congratulated me throughout the morning, as I congratulated them with a "Happy Republic Day" in return. I found it funny and interesting when I was mistaken for a professional photographer (which I am not, and far from one,) part Indian or an Indian from the northeast (which I am not, but in heart, perhaps; northeastern Indians look more Chinese because of the geographical location of Northeast India.) As expected, and as usual when meeting Indians from the Hindi-speaking belt, one question that had been coming up the whole morning was "why do you speak Hindi?" Of course, I had to tell them my really summarized life story.

A more decent photo with the current ambassador; this is inside his house.

- I eventually made my way to the poolside, and we were served some jalebis (orange-colored syrup-sweet funnel cakes,) vegetable fritters, samosas, and some vegetarian roll that looked like an Indian burrito. I loved the food and I would have eaten more if I wasn't busy talking to the other Indians, including one of my respondents for my thesis. Well, talking to the Indians was a pleasure by itself; they always have some witty remarks and funny comments. I also realized that I've been rubbing elbows with more Indians throughout the years, because I was able to talk to meet some Indians in the event who were connected with some of the Indians I knew beforehand. I was not able to take photos of the poolside because my hands were too full with food and drinks.

- I got to roam around the ground floor of the ambassador's house, and I must say that it reminded me of the big hotels I've stayed at in India before, particularly the ones in Jaipur.  I wasn't able to roam around the whole house, but I think I would like to have a house like his. The house seemed cozy. As much as I wanted to take many photos inside the house, I did not want to look suspicious so I just took a nice photo by the flag and the photo of the current Indian president.

My photo, together with all the other entries, being flashed.

A giant tiranga, and a photo of President Pranab Mukherjee.

- Before I left the ambassador's residence, I was able to have a longer conversation with Dr. Kumar, and he told me that the embassy has plans of organizing more cultural events to strengthen (soft) diplomatic ties between India and the Philippines. He even told me to watch out for the Holi celebration this March, to be held at the SM Mall of Asia open area, by the bay (I attended this festival two years ago, and you can read it here for more information about the event, and the festival itself.)

With Dr. Suresh Kumar.

- I left the ambassador's house with a heavy heart (and my hands with heavy baggage,) but I felt that the greater honor for the day was not the award/prize, but the opportunity to have celebrated the 66th Republic Day in the ambassador's house, with the ambassador and his family, and the other Indians living here in Metro Manila. Finally, I would like to thank the Indian Embassy for the invitation to the event, the judges of the contest who chose my photo, and of course, Wipro Philippines for sponsoring my prize.




** Here's the winning photo I submitted:

"Prabhu"

- The photo si entitled "Prabhu," and shows a Filipino devotee of the Hare Krishna movement honoring a statue of the founder of  the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON,) A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. This was taken during the rathayatra festival, held during the "Festival of India" at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. (Read about the event here.)