YASH PAUL SOI: Cultural Ambassador of India

"Yash Paul Soi with then Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani at India Day Parade."

"I feel there is a great need to promote peace and nonviolence in this world of ours for the sake of our children and grandchildren," said Yash Paul, the president of the Federation of Indian Organizations. Inspired by the United Nations’ declaration of Non-Violence Day on Oct. 2, 2007 - the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the pioneer of peaceful resistance and non violence that gained India her independence from the British, Yash Paul Soi took upon himself the task of spreading his message throughout his adopted homeland, America.

It has become a passion for him, especially, working with a group of half a million people of Indian descent in the New York Tri- State area, all campaigning to install two statues of Mahatma Gandhi at the United Nations headquarters and Liberty State Park in New Jersey.

Once Soi was asked to lead the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA), headquartered in New Jersey, with satellite offices in Queens - he introduced the idea of promoting a Gandhi institute with permanent memorial statues in prominent places. He wrote letters to the New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, asking permission to commission statues for the Jersey City park and the UN headquarters in midtown Manhattan. "It seems an impossible dream, but we must all work towards making the impossible possible," said Soi, a professional engineer and consultant. "Right now, it’s just the preliminary stage. But it has to be done as there is so much fear of violence and terrorism in the world that we must start teaching people, especially our children about non-violence and peace." With this in mind, he has started a crusade to take the message of nonviolence to the American public schools and colleges to make them recognize and celebrate Non-Violence Day not only every October 2nd but every day.

"Yash Paul Soi with the Mayor of New York Cith, Michael R. Bloomberg"

Soi has the distinction of being elected second time as President of FIA, which organizes the India Day Parade, the largest parade outside of India.

He says, "Someone must do the job." For him, the privilege to organize the India Day Parade 2008 in New York is an honor bestowed on him.

As one of the founding members of the Federation of Indian Associations Inc., started in 1978, Soi was elected President during 1999-2000. He recalled his first presidentship: "In those days, our India roots were solid. We were born, bred, schooled in the motherland with the cultural festivals, music and song traditions, the Bollywood movies. We were very proud to be Indian- Americans." He paused, "but now our children and grandchildren consider themselves Americans but our roots remain the same and will always be there for future generations."

"Yash Paul Soi with his family"

Therefore , when elected second time as president, he intends to continue the FIA’s tradition of inviting famous Bollywood movie stars to lead the parade. He had invited Govinda as the grand Marshall in 1999, which attracted more than 30,000 people. Without much hesitation, he also included Asha Bhosle as the honored guest to be part of the parade on August 15, while he arranged several concerts in New York and around the USA.

This year will not be any different, except the parade will signify India’s solidarity as it celebrates its 61st independence day. Although there is a need to show "solidarity with other South Asian countries and Indian efforts to defend its territory," Yash Pal Soi contends, "FIA has functioned primarily as a social and cultural organization, focused on the India Independence Day parade, involving colorful floats, dancing on stage, a more festive atmosphere, ending with banquets dinners at the Terrace on the Green in Queens and the Royal Albert Palace in New Jersey."

It is important to bring the work of the FIA up to date and Yash Paul is planning on new directions, besides bringing the pro-immigrant lobbying efforts in Washington, DC. Indian illegal immigrants are a major part of the US immigration problem and the community leaders have been lobbying members of the United States Congress for some time now with the issue of the illegal immigrants.

"As a sign of solidarity with India, FIA has written letters to the editors of American newspapers and most notably sent checks and transmitted thousands of dollars over the Internet to organizations apparently set up to aid Indian soldiers and their families. Appeals abound on such web sites where Indian-American newspapers ask for donations for the "brave" or "martyred "jawans" — foot soldiers in Hindi — who have been killed or injured in battle on the icy mountaintops of Kashmir. The response was amazing," Yash Paul Soi said.

An engineer for New York City’s Environmental Protection Department, under Yash Paul’s leadership, FIA, which represents nearly half a million people of South Asian origin now settled down in the Tri-State areas of New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut is working on the need to establish a cremation ground as part of a social welfare center to be constructed in the outskirts of New York City.

It looks like a great deal is being accomplished, since 1969, when Yash Paul Soi as President of "Soi International Group" started his career as a pioneering cultural ambassador promoting India from his travel agency office off Lexington Avenue. He reminded me of the time in 1973, when he organized his major pioneering major concert "Folk Dances of India" with thirty- five of the top dancers of India, Gopi Krishna and Bollywood actress Asha Parekh at New York’s Lincoln Center. Who will ever forget the great performances of Mohammed Rafi at Madison Square Garden in 1979 and Manna Dey in 1981?

Since then, he has been making history in prestigious arenas like Madison Square Garden Arena (20,000 seats), Carnegie Hall, Roy Thompson Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, with performances across major cities where Americans from India have settled across the USA, Canada, and the West Indies with famous stars from the Bollywood world, including Asha Bhosle, Mohamed Rafi, Alka Yagnik, Manna Dey, Talat Mahmood, Jagjit and Chitra, Pankaj Udhas, Anup Jalota, Ghulam Ali, many famous Bollywood actors and actresses, singers and dancers, etc. By December 1983, New York Times headlined him as the "Cultural Ambassador of India" and paid him tributes for his firstever radio program "Music of India" started in 1969, where he became famous for his interviews with Mother Teresa, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, President Jimmy Carter, Governors, Senators, Mayors, Bollywood movie actors and renowned singers from South Asia.

Well known in the metropolitan area and across North America, Yash Paul Soi started as founder President of International Academy of Performing Arts promoting ethnic South Asian concerts and offering artists with a US platform to perform, as part of international peace through the world of music, arts, and culture.

At the prestigious Carnegie Hall in 1985, Yash Paul Soi presented Jagjit and Chitra Singh. While working on his concerts, he was honored for "his dedication and generosity towards services to the community," by the Share and Care Foundation on September 15, 2002. They remembered how he arranged three concerts that enabled them to raise $400,000 to help the poor, the handicapped and orphans in India. It was his friend, Congressman Frank Pallone who presented him with the distinguished award at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.

In November 23, 2002, he received the "Outstanding Community Service Award" in recognition of his dedicated and continuous service to the South Asian Indian community by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. He was instrumental as the chief architect in arranging a unique instrumental "unity and peace" concert by leading ghazal singers Ghulam Ali from Pakistan and Pankaj Udhas and Anup Jalota from India.

By December 24, 2002, the Pakistani Community honored him for his "outstanding services, and dedication and continuous support to the Pakistani Community." Having worked with the Indian immigrants in Guyana and USA, Soi began to pursue the cause of bringing democracy to Guyana by taking up the issues of human rights abuse in the country. He launched a one-man public relations movement, working on fundraising events for Dr. Cheddi Jagan in his successful struggle to become President of Guyana from 1989-1992. On July 2, 2004, the West Indian newspaper, the Caribbean New Yorkers, quoted "Yash Paul Soi: A Guyanese Freedom Fighter for helping Dr. Cheddi Jagan in his successful struggle to become President of Guyana."

He has come a long way since completing his B.Sc. degree in Civil Engineering from Utah State University and Master of Science degree in Management and Industrial Engineering from Columbia University in New York City. Married to a beautiful blonde American woman and father of two sons, he has strongly felt that it’s through music and dance we will be able to enhance the social relationship and bring better understanding between India and North America. And that’s what he plans to do when Bollywood stars and business leaders lead the 2008 India Day Parade in New York this August.

- BY VINANTI SARKAR CASTELLARIN