Multicultural City Inaugurates Mahatma Gandhi District
BY PRAMOD KULKARNI
JANUARY 22, 2010

HOUSTON: It was a cold, grey morning last Saturday, January 16, for the opening ceremony of the Mahatma Gandhi District. The newly elected Mayor of Annise Parker was in attendance as well as Consul General Sanjiv Arora, a large contingent of elected officials, and more than 200 members of the local Indo-American community.

Due to the inclement weather, the ceremony was shifted inside to the large hall of the East-West Appliance Center. After an hour of speeches associated with the opening ceremony concluded, the official contingent moved outside to the corner of Hillcroft & Harwin. Just as Mayor Parker pulled the rope to unveil the two street sign toppers identifying the Mahatma Gandhi District, the clouds parted and bright sunlight lit the historic occasion.

The Hillcroft merchants have long cherished the dream of honoring Mahatma Gandhi in their commercial area. Originally, the idea was to name the Hillcroft segment passing through their shopping region as Mahatma Gandhi Avenue. Under the leadership of Aku Patel, owner of Karat 22; Ramesh Lulla, owner of Sari Sapne and Balaji Restaurant, and Kapil & Parul Thakkar of East West International, the merchant group embarked on a mission to convince a city-required minimum of 75% of the shop owners and landlords to agree to the street name change. Last year, India Culture Center (ICC) joined in the effort under a Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Project Committee chaired by Atul Vir. Due possibly to the expense of changing stationary, signage, etc., was unable to get the two-thirds majority approval from the neighborhood. The idea finally received traction when Mohdudul Huq, advisor to the City of Houston planning department, suggested that instead of trying to change the Hillcroft street name, the group try to apply a newly created sign topper program to rename the entire shopping region as the Mahatma Gandhi District.

ICC and Hillcroft Merchants met with then-Mayor Bill White and Councilman M. J. Khan to discuss the plan. Both Khan and White readily approved the plan. It took, however, until the beginning of Annise Parker’s administration in early January that the plan went into effect.
The designation of the Mahatma Gandhi District is the third Houston tribute to the Father of the Indian nation. The first tribute involved the installation of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Hermann Park under the sponsorship of the Government of India and ICC. Another tribute consists of the annual Oct. 2 Gandhi Jayanti Thousand Lights celebrations hosted by the Mahatma Gandhi Library at Miller Outdoor Theater.

The sign toppers for the entire district bounded by Westpark, Fondren and Highway 59 will cost $10,000. This expense will be handled entirely by the Indo-American community. Moid Khan of Bollywood Shows4U had pledged to donate money for three of the sign toppers.
The opening ceremony was organized under the leadership of Bangar Reddy and co-chair Manisha Gandhi Mehta. Atul Vir and Manisha Mehta serves as the emcees and Aku Patel gave the vote of thanks.

At the opening ceremony, Mayor Parker praised the Mahatma Gandhi District as a tribute to Houston as a diverse, multicultural city. “The tribute is meant to unite and not divide our city,” the mayor cautioned. The mayor’s speech was broadcast live by Music Masala Radio.

The political leaders were brought to the opening ceremony through the efforts of the Indo-American Political Action Committee (IAPAC). Among the notable speakers was Congressman Al Green, who presented to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Project Committee with an American flag that had flown over the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.

Councilwoman Jolanda Jones praised the Mahatma Gandhi district merchants for having revitalized the area that had fallen on bad times. Dressed in an ethnic Indian outfil, Jones told the appreciative audience that she is a frequent shopper in the district.

Consul General Arora reminded the audience of his earlier association with the Indian delegation to the United Nations in June 2007 when the UN General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution piloted by India to observe Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday on October 2 as the International Day of Non-Violence.

Former District 5 Councilman M.J. Khan had words of wisdom to the Indo-American community. “Naming of the district after Mahatma Gandhi is a great achievement,” Khan noted. “But now you should do more. You should put Bapu’s words into action by making the Mahatma Gandhi District as Houston’s cleanest and most crime-free area.”

Several speakers noted that Gandhi’s non-violence movement inspired freedom movements in other parts of the world, including the U.S. civil rights movement led by Rev. Martin Luther King, and the fight against South African apartheid led by Nelson Mandela.

Concidentally, the annual Martin Luther King Day celebration was to have occurred just two days after the Gandhi District opening ceremony.

After the outdoor inauguration, the guests returned to the East West hall for a complimentary lunch catered by Raja Sweets and Bhojan Restaurant. Keemat Grocers was also serving vegetable biryani and chai at their Hillcroft location.

Undoubtedly, the opening ceremony of the Mahatma Gandhi District will be just the beginning of future tributes and celebrations in this special corner of southwest Houston.