Fremont : It was a very special day here in Northern California, USA when all local Indian ‘groups’ put up a celebration of India’s independence day parade on Sunday, August 17, 2003. Kashmiri Pandits celebrated the independence day by having a float that was called “Kashmir Paradise on Earth”. It contained a kashmiri bride and bridegroom, a hukka-smoking man, a pandit ji blessing the crowd, and a bunch of teenagers and teen-at-heart singing and dancing Bombro-Bombro, seated in a shikara on a lotus decked lake, tastefully painted by volunteers. The boat had a swag of ‘hill’ (moss) hanging at its tail as well.

Sharon Davis, wife of Gov. Gray Davis, will deliver one of the keynote speeches at a Jan. 24 Fremont dinner that organizers say will celebrate the area’s diversity and send a message of peace and unity. About 500 people, including a number of elected officials, are expected to attend the second Unity Dinner at the Fremont Marriott Hotel. “With 140 languages spoken in Fremont, once a year, we are having this celebration to set the tone and bring together our diverse communities,” said Jeevan Zutshi, the organizer of the event”. “Compared to other places in the world, we are uncommonly united in Fremont where we know how important it is to understand different cultures.”

That’s the theory behind a proposed partnership between the United States and India to build universities that would teach meditation and peace-building strategies based on ancient practices and modern science. The primary backer of the project — which includes a 40,000-student university in India and an 8,000-student university in the United States — will detail his plan for the first time Friday night at the third annual Unity Dinner, sponsored by the Fremont-based IndoAmerican Community Federation.

FREMONT _ The Indo-American Community Federation will hold its second “Unity Dinner” in an effort to forge a strong bond and sense of understanding between the different ethnic, religious and cultural groups living in the Tri-City area. While the evening will feature Indian cultural performances, the Jan. 24 event is meant to bring the community together rather than just to highlight a particular group. “It will bring together not only the different religious groups from India but all the other diverse groups (living in the area),” said Jeevan Zutshi, founder of the federation. The idea to hold the dinner came after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Unity in diversity. What better a place to demonstrate this eternal motto than a place as diverse as the U.S, in a city as multicultural as Fremont? Indo-American Community Federation (IACF), a Fremont based non-profit organization, is hosting a “Unity Dinner” to send out the message that we all need to stand together as American. Especially in the wake of 9/11. “After Sept. 11 (2001) it has become all the more important to understand each other’s culture and unite the community, and also educate the mainstream about the culture, “says Jeevan Zutshi of IACF.

UNION CITY – No one who attended the conference “Global Terrorism and Kashmir in its International Context,” sponsored by the Indo-American Community Federation at James Logan High School, expected to find the answer to the long-term conflict between India and Pakistan over the region of Kashmir in one afternoon. The idea, according to organizer Jeevan Zutshi, was to continue the search for a solution to the conflict between the two countries, the effects of which are a rising death toll and tide of terrorism.The conference opened with comments from Congressman Pete Stark, who used his time to comment on the diversity of his constituency.

Kashmir issue is closer to a solution, said Lieutenant General (Retd.) Moti Dar, a Kashmir expert at the third international symposium organized by Indo-American Community Federation (IACF) and Indo-American Kashmir Forum (IAKF) held August 17 at the Logan High School conference room in Union City, California. Lieutenant General Moti Dar of the Indian Army has intimate knowledge and experience of India-Pakistan relations and his rationale is that increasing pressure on Pakistan to democratize bodes well for a solution.

ALAMEDA COUNTY LIBRARY and the INDO-AMERICAN COMMUNITY FEDERATION Present “Glimpses of India”

Bay Area Federation Celebrates Mothers’ Day Santa Clara, 12 May 2002 The Indo-American Community Federation (IACF), a Non-Profit public benefit corporation, celebrated Mothers’ Day in style tonight at the Mayuri Banquet Hall. The event started off with an introduction by the convener Dr. Naresh Sharma, followed by a slide presentation by IACF secretary Dr. Subhash Garg, who noted that Jeevan Zutshi founded the organization in 1994 making significant contributions. Recent events by IACF include the International Kashmir Symposium and Cultural night in June 2001, which brought together the entire range of opinion leaders on this urgent issue, and the highly successful Unity Dinner in January 2002, attended by 400 people including prominent elected officials at all levels as well as fifteen mainstream organizations.

Los Angeles: Indo-American Political Foundation based in Los Angeles held a reception for more than half-a-dozen California Members of Congress at Crown Plaza Airport Hotel on Saturday, April 6, 2002.The only out of State invitee was New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone Jr. who had just returned from his trip to India and could not attend the function. However, his absence did not deter the Kashmiri Pandit community of the US to honor him with a plaque and praise him for his contribution to the displaced Kashmiri Pandit community.