India has started celebrating 60 years of the Independence. It gave a reason to smile and celebrate to Indians living in London and to Londoners also. Londoners have started a 3-month festival ‘India Now’ of Indian culture from Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the Londoners welcomed a floating monument of symbol of love from India in London. At the launch of the event, ‘India Now festival’, people saw a model of the Taj Mahal sailing past the Tower of London, Parliament, the London Eye and over the River Thames. This is the event of celebrating the food, fashion, art and film of India.

According to the report, the India Now festival aims to build up the already extensive bilateral relations between London and Delhi. There will be more than 1,500 events in the festival that would represent all aspects of Indian culture in London.

Team India’s captain Rahul Dravid was also there to see the 6-meter high Taj model with Bollywood art director Bijon Da Gupta and Indian artist Suchi Chidambaram who have designed the model of Taj. Actress Shilpa Shetty was also there with the Mayor of London Ken Livingston and an Indian-born British actress Joanna Lumley to receive the Taj moored at Tower Bridge.

Mayor Ken Livingstone said on this occasion that this festival would give Londoners a chance to see what India has to offer from its past and what it has to offer for the future. India represents the future.

Other high profile events will include an outdoor spectacle of theatre and contemporary as well as classical Indian dance as well as the transformation of the busy shopping area, Regent Street, into a mini India complete with a Goan beach.

Mark Prescott, director of cultural campaigns for the mayor’s office said that India is the most culturally diverse country in the world and London is the most culturally diverse city in the world. This is all about celebrating the festival together.

The festival is recognition of India’s emergence as one of the world’s greatest economic powerhouse and it would be helpful to encourage more business, investments and students from India to UK.

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