Celebration of India to Mirror L.A.’s Diversity

When they step onto the stage Saturday night during a festival at Pierce College celebrating India’s culture and that nation’s independence day, the dance group Punjab Di Shaan will have a distinctly L.A. flavor.

The soul of their music is from the Punjab region of India, but the group’s members are as diverse as Los Angeles.

That fits in nicely with the goal of the festival.

“We are Americans first,” said Mahesh Parekh, president of the India Assn. of the San Fernando Valley, “but we need to preserve the culture.”

The festival, recognizing India’s independence from Britain in 1947, is an opportunity to bring the culture of that diverse country to all Americans, Parekh said.

A decade ago, when the region’s Indian community was centered near Artesia and Cerritos, the annual independence day festival in August was only held in that area. But last year the burgeoning south Asian community in the Valley inspired its own festival that drew about 10,000, Parekh said.

Mirroring the region’s increased south Asian population, the Valley’s fledgling India Assn. incorporated in May and plans to apply for nonprofit status. Its first goal is to raise enough funds to build a school in Gujarat state, devastated last year by an earthquake.

According to a Times analysis of 2000 census data, the Valley’s Indian population is about 13,460. Figures from a decade ago are not available.

But both Los Angeles city and county have experienced a robust growth in the south Asian community.

In the 1990 census, the city was home to about 17,200 Indians, and that figure grew in 2000 by nearly 44%, to 24,739.

A decade ago, 43,829 Indians lived in the county; today the county is home to more than 60,000, a jump of nearly 38%, according to census data.

Just as India is a polyglot of religions, ethnicities and languages, the Valley and nearby communities are now home to several Sikh temples, at least two Muslim masjids and three Hindu temples, Parekh said.

The free festival, open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., will feature more than 70 food and business booths, with entertainment beginning at 4 p.m. and continuing until closing. A 2 p.m. flag-raising will honor the flags of the United States and India, with the anthems of both nations played.

A festival highlight will be dance and music performances, which will begin with children, said Mohini Kumar, who has scheduled a broad range of entertainment, ranging from modern Bollywood music and dance popularized by India’s enormous film industry, to the classical dance form of Bharat Natyam, with its intricate hand and facial movements and rhythmic footwork.

The association, Parekh said, has more on its agenda than cultural preservation. He would like to see Indians coalesce their numbers into political action.

But Saturday’s festival is simply designed to share the culture of India, L.A. style.

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Times researcher Maloy Moore contributed to this story.