ELINEPA’s Annual Indian Dinner 2013

D. Vassiliadis offers the figure of the eagle of Zeus to the Ambassador of India Mr. Tsewang Topden

 Hellenic-Indian Society for Culture and Development (ELINEPA) organized the Annual Indian Dinner for its members on Sunday, February 18, 2013  at the Indian restaurant “Iskandar” in Alimos.

Guest of honor was Ambassador of India Mr. Tsewang Topden and his wife Mrs. Michelle. The dinner was attended by the First Secretary of the Indian Embassy, Mr. Somnath Halder, the Honorary Consul of India in Thessaloniki Ms.Yvonne Alexandridou, the President of Greek Indian Cultural & Welfare Association, Mr. Maghar Gandhi, representatives of the Hellenic -Japanese, the Hellenic – Chinese and the Hellenic-Russian Friendship Associations, as well as by several university professors, judges, lawyers, artists, teachers of yoga and Indian dance, businessmen, students of Indian language and culture, members of ELINEPA and friends of India.

The President of ELINEPA, Dr. Dimitrios Vassiliadis, on behalf of all members thanked Ambassador of India Mr.Tsewang Topden for his continuous and tireless efforts to further strengthen the Greco-Indian relations, particularly in the cultural and economic fields.

In his turn the Ambassador thanked ELINEPA for its significant work and all the present  members for friendship and interest they show towards India, and stressed that this friendship is mutual, as he personally and India as a whole have friendly feelings towards Greece and the Greek people. He also referred to the need to work together – everyone in his own field for further tightening of the Greco-Indian relations.

Then, Dr. Vassiliadis on behalf of the ELINEPA offered to the Ambassador of India a figure of the eagle of Zeus, explaining that the great historical meeting which took place for the first time between Europe and India during the reign of Alexander the Great was not just due to a personal ambition, as interpreted by many historians, but because of the Divine Will, as  Zeus guided him from above throughout the course the Macedonian army marched to the distant India by sending an eagle as the guide for the course, Alexander followed with an absolute dedication.

During the dinner, several members of ELINEPA had the opportunity to meet with the Ambassador and the First Secretary of the Indian Embassy and discuss issues that concern them directly.

The pleasant and friendly atmosphere was enriched further with Indian songs sang by Nadia Zahoor and Kostas Kalaitzis. In the lottery that followed there were distributed the prizes from the sponsors of the event, who this time were the hotel Harmony Parga Resort, the bookstore Eonios Iniochos, the school of dance Oriental Dance Expression, the Yoga Shakti Studio, the Yoga Praxis, the Yoga Sadhaka (Papadiamantopoulou 53, Ilissia), the Shivananda Yoga Center, the Indian restaurant Iskandar and the Publications Division of ELINEPA .

Ms. Nadia Zahoor sings a song to the Ambassador of India