On Monday the Queen Elizabeth II hosted a historic reception to launch the UK-India Year of Culture at the Buckingham Palace.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was joined by an Indian delegation, including the likes of film stars Kamal Hassan, Suresh Gopi, all-rounder Kapil Dev, singer Gurdas Mann, fashion designers Manish Arora, Anita Dongre and Manish Malhotra, sitar maestro Anoushka Shankar with her mother, among others. The Queen was joined by her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and grandson Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton.
The Duchess of Cambridge wore a sparkling metallic and pink silk dress by Erdem, pairing the outfit with earrings by Indian designer Anita Dongre. She topped the outfit off with matching sparkling heels.
The Royals sampled food from both countries at the launch of the UK-India Year of Culture 2017, prepared in the Palace kitchen by Royal Chef Mark Flanagan and Indian restaurant Veeraswamy Chef Uday Salunkhe.
The image of India's national bird, the peacock, was projected across the entire front façade of Buckingham Palace, visible from all approaches to the Palace from 6pm on Monday evening. The projection was designed by Studio Carrom, the Bangalore and London-based design studio, which created the eye-catching image of the peacock with dancing figures within its feathers. The peacock is an iconic motif representing both India and performance, and also reminiscent of Indian fireworks, a symbol of celebration and festivities.
Royal Reception
High-profile guests from various fields were greeted at the main foyer of the palace with a special Indian dance performance on the steps titled ‘Ekam’, presented by Akademi and choreographed by Arunima Kumar. It showcased the cultural diversity of India in the form of dance. Dancers included Arunima Kumar (Kuchipudi), Archna Patel (Kuchipudi), Bhagyalakshmi Thyagarajan (Bharatanatyam), Helene Lesage (Bharatanatyam), Showmi Das (Kathak), Shivani Sethia (Kathak), Jesal Patel (Kathak), Elena Catalano (Odissi) and Debanjali Biswas (Manipuri). Musicians from the Bhavan Centre in London performed Indian music, with Balu Raghuraman on the violin and Shri Balachander on the Mridangam. The guests pored over unique displays from the Royal Collection, including ancient Indian manuscripts such as the ‘Shahnama’ and some Persian calligraphy and Indian ornaments.
Priti Patel, Minister for International Development, said: “As a member of the diaspora and a member of the British government, it’s amazing to see the depth of the UK-India relationship. I’ve been able to have discussions with minister Arun Jaitley on the political situation in both our countries and the incredible trade opportunities that we have.”
Rajesh Agrawal, London’s deputy mayor for business, said: “UK and India have a shared history on so many fronts. Celebrating 2017 as a UK-India Year of Culture is a big landmark. In the last 20 years India has progressed a lot and our relationship needs to be constantly refreshed.”
Tamil actor-filmmaker Kamal Hassan, visiting the reception, told the PTI: “That my name was recommended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a huge honour. This is a great occasion to celebrate the shared history of India and the UK. The English language is the best example of that and I often refer to it as a great Indian language that unites us all.”
World Cup winner all-rounder Kapil Dev said: “This kind of celebration of India-UK culture should have happened long ago.”
Taking the opportunity Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Y K Sinha, invited the Indian cricket legend back to the UK in June to launch a special cricketing event celebrating India-UK ties as part of the UK-India Year of Culture events, which he accepted.
Malayalam superstar and politician Suresh Gopi said, “As we celebrate this 70th year of Indian independence, we remember the soulful soul of Mahatma Gandhi. I am looking forward to having eye contact with the legendary Queen who is the longest reigning British monarch. We were under this regime and we have lots of good things they initiated in India, which we carry on with pride… but we built over that and are zooming into one of the most developed nations.”
UK-based Indian-origin filmmaker Gurinder Chadha described the evening as a “perfect combination” of the two cultures. Punjabi singer Gurdas Mann added: “I am ready to do the bhangra if I get the chance.”
Actress Ayesha Dharker said: “I am completely overwhelmed and excited about what lies in store.”
Actor Kunal Nayyar said: “I am born in Hounslow, a British kid who grew up in New Delhi and then moved to America and then ended up on this TV show ('Big Bang Theory') and all my dreams came true. So it's really come full circle to be invited by the Queen.”
Royal canapes prepared at the Palace Kitchen
There was a lot of hustle and bustle in the Royal Kitchen as a team of around 15 chefs prepared for the reception in the evening. They have been at it since 11am on Monday. Royal Chef Mark Flanagan and Veeraswamy Chef Uday Salunkhe, leading a team of 5 from the famous and one of the oldest Indian restaurants, worked hand in hand to prepare a spread of canapés that were examples of the best of both UK and Indian cultures. The Indian dishes prepared were essentially Anglo Indian, with flavours from different regions of India – very similar to food that is available in Veeraswamy.
Uday said, “Today's food is a classic case of amalgamation of the Indian food and British food. Bringing out the Indian flavours in such miniature form was difficult, but after 6 weeks trial and working over the weekend, it has come out perfectly well.”
Mark oversaw the preparation of a little less than 5,000 canapés that were to be served to the guests visiting the evening. When asked how they decided on this menu, he said, their aim has been to keep both their own specialities alive – a good mixture of both cultures.
The Indian dishes included in the menu were raj puri, paneer square in herb crust, tandoori prawn cocktail, soya gujjia, strained yoghurt kebab, pineapple and almond Halwa tart and boondi chocolate rock – some of these dishes being classic trademark of the Veeraswamy restaurant.
Changing of Guard to Jai Ho washed out
Heavy downpours on Monday morning washed out the planned Changing of the Guard ceremony to A R. Rahman's 'Jai Ho' music in London at 10.40am.
The Band of the Grenadier Guards were due to play the Indian-themed music during the traditional ceremony to mark the start of UK-India Year of Culture. Instead, the band was moved to the Guards' Chapel at Wellington Barracks near the palace to perform the music about an hour later.
“It is like the monsoon today. We moved the band to the chapel especially for this occasion,” said an official, after it was confirmed that the palace guards will be moving to what is referred to as a “Wet Mount”. The Wet Mount takes place in the event that the ceremonial elements of the Changing of the Guard have to be cancelled due to extreme weather conditions, on average about twice a year.
“The important thing is that the music part of the ceremony could go ahead,” a spokesperson said.
The band played a few Bollywood tunes, including 'Aaj ki raat' from 'Don' and some Bhangra beats, ending on a grand crescendo of 'Jai Ho' from 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
