Washington, DC

The Embassy hosted a public event on February 23, 2012 on the theme of role and contribution of India-Americans to the ongoing consolidation of India-US relations. It included a presentation on "Homespun: - an initiative of the Asian Pacific American Program of the Smithsonian Institution to put together an exhibition, chronicling the story of immigrants from India and their descendants in America.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Nirupama Rao highlighted the 'people centric' dimension of the India-US partnership and how it has, over the years, particularly strengthened the 'mutually beneficial' character of cooperation between India and the US. "India takes pride in achievements of the three million strong India-origin community in the United States", she said. Outlining specific areas in which Indian-Americans have excelled and their contribution widely recognized, Ambassador remarked - "To say that the Indian American community has truly come of age is no exaggeration". In this context, she described "HomeSpun" as a celebration of the accomplishments and success of the Indian-origin community in the US and expressed confidence that it would be an effective public demonstration of the potential and capabilities of Indian Americans in contributing to the American society and economy and also to the India-US partnership.

Mr. Richard Kurin, Undersecretary for History, Art, and Culture at the Smithsonian Institution and Mr. Konrad Ng, Director of Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program, and HomeSpun's curator Dr. Pawan Dhingra were present on the occasion. Other attendees included Smithsonian officials, India-origin businesspersons, scholars of Indian-American studies, journalists, arts and culture enthusiasts and a number of prominent members of the Indian-American community.