The 35th India Day Parade in New York City on Sunday (August 16) will set three records instead of one, according to Ankur Vaidya, president of the Federation of Indian Associations, NY-NJ-CT.

A team from the Guinness World Record is working with the FIA to count the marchers to declare the parade as the largest India Day Parade. â€œThere are a lot of formalities. An area will be cordoned off and people will be given tags to count them,â€ said Vaidya, who has no doubt that the count will result in the record.

Another record possible is for fluttering the most number of Indian flags at an event. The third could be for the use of tri-color based confetti, small pieces or streamers of paper, mylar, or metallic material which are usually thrown at parades.

Preparations for the parade are in the final stages and things are moving as planned, Vaidya, who is in his second term as president, said. About 200,000 people are expected to march in the parade with actor Arjun Rampal as Grand Marshal, actress Parineeti Chopra as the Guest of Honor and cricketer Virendra Sehwag as Celebrity Guest.

Events related to the parade will be kicked off with the ringing the closing bell at NASDAQ by the Grand Marshall and the consul general on Friday. The Empire State Building will be lit in tricolor and there will be a lamp lighting ceremony attended by actress Chopra.

â€œThis year the mainstream media is expected to cover the events in a big way as features are scheduled to appear in several publications including the New York Times before and after the event.â€

Digital advertisements too will appear on 15 kiosks and billboards to grab the attention of the mainstream. â€œIt is our parade. Everyone has a duty to make it successful.â€

Unlike in earlier years, the police have tightened the rules and the fire regulators will allow only preset stage for the cultural program at the Madison Garden on 23rd Street. Earlier the organizers set up the stage on an elevated pedestal so that people could watch the programs from far away places. The preset stage will not be as comprehensive and the visibility from far might be compromised. â€œBut we he to comply with rules,â€ he noted.

Vaidya said he does not want to create any hype about the number of people attending. The hype may attract further regulations or more charges from the city and the police claiming to deploy more police officers, ambulances and other facilities.

Noted Punjabi artist Gippi Grewal is added among the main guests. Vaidya said a number of popular actors and actresses from mini screen will attend the event.

Though everything is going on as planned, still there could be unanticipated problems. â€œOne could not avoid the anxiety. What we can do is to hold our breathe and keep the composure,â€ he said philosophically.

He justified bringing celebrities, especially film stars, with lot of expenses to the event. Without the celebrities people will not come and if the celebrity is not top rated the crowds too will be lower, he noted.

Entering the world records list has its own benefits for the parade and FIA in the long run, he said. Parades are coming up in many towns and it is important to keep the importance of the NY parade. â€œEverything depends on marketing. Making a record will add a name to it and more businesses will be willingly come forward to partner with it. Earlier, business people needed to write a check for one parade, which is not the case anymore.â€

Last year the parade ended with a surplus of more than $50,000. He is not sure if it is possible this year with expenses for the Guinness record attempt.

â€œIt was easier to make a surplus this year too and leave a legacy. But creating the record is for the future and the benefits will be seen by the upcoming officials.â€

He said the surplus from last year helped to organize seven visa camps for free.

Vaidya said his family life and professional life were affected by the hectic work for the last two years. He definitely does not want another term, though he will actively work for the organization. â€œIt is a full time job and one needs time to do justice to it. I was associated with FIA for the last six years in various capacities. I learned a lot. I hope it will be useful when I land in new avenues.â€

When he was elected last year as president of the Federation of Indian Associations, NY-NJ-CT, at age 36, Vaidya was the youngest president of the organization, which took shape in early 1970s.

Under him the organization reached the next level of excellence with the largest ever India Day Parade last year. No wonder, the board of the organization wanted him to continue as president for another term in 2015, though in the last 15 years, nobody was reelected as president again.

It was indeed a rare honor to be reelected for Vaidya, an engineer turned entrepreneur, who came up with many innovative ideas and implemented them successfully.

The 43-year-old premier organization has been holding India Day Parade for the past 34 years in Manhattan to promote and project India to the mainstream America.

â€œThings went very well last year, though there is room for improvement. The India Day Parade was not a one day event, but we organized four events associated with it in New York and New Jersey. More celebrities attended it compared to earlier years,â€ he said.

Vaidya said the parade was not focused on tristate alone as it has gained worldwide attention. People from as far as Toronto came to join the parade. â€œThere is no comparable event in the US for the Indian community with such a large participation. â€˜Why not make it to send out a broader message,â€™ was the thinking behind the expansion moves,â€ he said.

The New York Police Department estimated that almost 187,000 people came for the parade, he said.

In his opinion it is better to have a two year term for the officials, as they gain much experience and start new programs in the first year. If they leave after a year, their expertise is lost as well as their work remain unfinished. Last year, Vaidya could bring many corporate sponsors and the organization had also started programs like a job forum.

In FIA, he implemented the corporate sponsorship portfolio, which became a huge success. Corporations like ESPN, Times Now, Zee TV, Viacom 18, Yupp Tv, NBA, and Standard Chartered came forward to avail the opportunities. Srujal Parikh and Alok Kumar helped him in this.

By rising from the ranks of an ordinary volunteer to president, he broke the myth that only politically influential and personally connected people can become president of the FIA.

The young and diverse executive committee too is a testament to that.

He considers organizing a job forum as very important as it addresses a pressing problem of the community. On a visit to a warehouse, he found Indian youth with higher degrees and technological qualifications doing manual work for a small salary. Many of them ended up there because of the language barrier or there were nobody to give them proper guidance. â€œThis should change. We have to create programs and facilities to give training and guidance for the youth so that they can get assimilated in the mainstream,â€ he said.

He lamented that the parade has not received any recognition from the Government of India even though it is the largest India Day Parade outside of India. The government has recognized events in Bahrain, attended by 2000 people, ignoring the New York parade.

Vaidya, who came to the US in 1999 continued his engineering studies at NJIT and now focuses on retail and real estate business.

He started his community work from the grassroots serving as a volunteer at the BAPS Temple providing transportation assistance with parking on weekends. (2003 - 2005).

In 2006, he actively participated in the Chaalo Gujarat program during the general election. Soon he moved to the mainstream and worked for the campaign of Senator Cory Booker, when he contested as Newark mayor in 2006.

He began actively working for the FIA in 2008 as a volunteer. In 2010 he became an event coordinator and continued to serve in various positions prior to entering the executive committee in 2013 as treasurer.

He is one of the founding members of the South Asian Community Outreach (SACO) along with Srujal Parikh and Sam Khan, which organizes major events like July 4th celebrations, which attracted thousands and got much acclaim.

He took a leadership role in the rescue efforts after hurricane Sandy. FIA set up a team then in support of the Red Crossâ€™s relief efforts.

For several years, Vaidya worked closely with veteran community leader Peter Kothari on multiple issues relating to Indian youth involved in legal issues.

His work with Safe Horizons to help immigrant women facing domestic abuse and help for immigrants facing job related issues are also noteworthy. Last year alone, he helped over two dozen people who faced domestic abuse or job difficulties. He also provided medical assistance to some.

He is always ready to help people who seek his intervention to get consular services even in complicated cases of visas/lost passports/lost documentation.

He also works with charity organizations like Magicbus, Ekal Vidyalaya, Share and Care and Uplift Humanity.

Vaidya lives with his wife Karishma and two children.

NY India Day Parade to set three Guinness records: FIA President Ankur Vaidya (Interview)