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.

About 100 Kashmiri Pandit men, women and children with a half dozen baby strollers walked along the float during the parade, shouting slogans like “Bharat Maata Ki – Jai” and
“Kashmir- Hamaara Hai”. It was a very happy, assertive, and properly expressive bunch. “Never ever have we have seen such a large crowd of enthusiasts before,” said Jeevan
Zutshi, one of the organizers of the event. “It was due to community involvement and organizers like Ajoy Zutshi, Ankit Monga, Vinod Moza, Ashish Bambroo and Sanjay Kak who
worked very hard to produce the most beautiful Float, ” Zutshi said.

The Float was sponsored by Indo-American Community Federation headed by Jeevan Zutshi.

The same evening Indo-American Kashmir Forum held a reception for congressman Frank Pallone in the house of Usha and Jeevan Zutshi in Fremont hills. The reception was
supported by Indian American Friendship Council. Its founder, Los Angeles based ,  Dr.Krishna Reddy spoke with passion about Congressman Pallone and issues affecting Indo-Us relations which are being handled by him in the most fair and professional way in the U.S Congress. He talked about the progress caucus has made in the past 10 years with founders like Congressman Pallone and Congressman Sherrod Brown.