Twenty-five years after the foundation of the Irish Free State, the green, white and orange tricolour of India was raised in Delhi at midnight, the start of August 15th, 1947. Officially, the green symbolised earth, the white stood for purity, and the saffron orange represented God, with Mahatma Gandhi's spinning wheel at the centre. But Indian schoolchildren are told the colours were inspired by the Irish tricolour: if a small country, right next to Britain, could gain its independence, surely India could follow. And it did.
Now, exactly 50 years later, Indians are preparing to celebrate the golden anniversary of independence, with major festivities planned all over India tonight. Indian communities all over the world will be celebrating too, and in typical Indian fashion the events are likely to be colourful, noisy occasions, with music, dancing and plenty of spicy food.
The Indian community in Ireland, numbering about 1,300, is planning a year of celebrations, starting with a formal ceremony in the ambassador's residence in India House, Foxrock, Co Dublin, tomorrow morning. The Indian Ambassador, Mr H. C. S. Dhody, will read a message from the new Indian President, Mr Kocheril Raman Narayanan, elected just four weeks ago, and will launch a new commemorative cover by An Post to mark the occasion.
The principal cultural celebration this week will be an evening of music, dance and dinner in the Abbeygate Hotel, Tralee in Co Kerry on Saturday. The evening is organised by a group of Indian doctors who live locally, and will feature traditional dancers and musicians. Around 250 guests are expected for the night of distinctly Eastern culture.
It's not only the Indians who will be celebrating this weekend. Pakistan, unified with India under British rule, became a separate country upon independence, when Hindu-Muslim tensions boiled over. There are about 1,200 Pakistanis in Ireland, and they will mark the anniversary of independence with a ceremony of national folk songs, or ghazals, in Griffith College, Dublin on Sunday afternoon. The Honorary Pakistani Consul, Mr Patrick Rowan, will attend the ceremony, which is organised by the Association of Pakistanis in Ireland.
The anniversary celebrations are expected to continue right through the jubilee year. The Indian Embassy is organising an Indian film festival, at the Irish Film Centre, from October 3rd to the 9th. India, with 16 official languages and more than 225 dialects, has the largest film industry in the world, producing about 800 films a year. Bollywood (Bombay's Hollywood) is famous for producing Hindi musicals, nicknamed masala films because, like the south Indian sauce, the films are made to a standard recipe: romantic plot, singing, dancing, and a little spice.
The Indian economy is expanding rapidly, and trade links between Ireland and India are increasing. The Indian Government's Trade Promotion department has organised India Week at the RDS during the first week in October. Up to 40 Indian companies will take part.
Throughout the coming year the Ireland-India Cultural Society will organise many events to mark the golden jubilee. The society is organising a large banquet to mark the anniversary, and will bring a dance troupe to Ireland in October. Venues for these events are yet to be decided.
The president of the society, Miss Shabnam Vasisht, originally from Delhi, has lived in Ireland for 20 years. Shabnam, a dress designer and artist, says she loves living in Ireland and sees many parallels between Irish society and Indian society.
There have been close political links between Ireland and India too. Eamon de Valera, a supporter of the Indian independence struggle, visited India in 1948. The first Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, visited Ireland twice, in 1949 and 1956, and two Irish presidents visited India: President Hillery in 1978 and the President, Mrs Robinson, in 1993.
India and Ireland have more in common then a shared colonial past. Both countries now boast growing economies and growing wealth, but many in each country are not benefiting from this new wealth. Both countries are also still addressing political disputes arising from independence. The 50th anniversary of Indian independence is both a celebration and a reminder of work to be done.
