How NRIs celebrated Modi's Singapore Expo address like a great Indian wedding

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Singapore visit concluded with an address to an 18,000-strong Indian audience at the Singapore Expo. In the earlier part of his two-day visit, the prime minister cemented diplomatic ties with Singapore, signed bilateral agreements and paid homage at the Indian National Army memorial. This is the first time an Indian prime minister has visited the memorial. The Singapore government rolled out the red carpet for PM Modi.

While the diplomatic outreach was important at many levels, the outreach to the diaspora and how it was woven together also merit attention. The scale of the event for a foreign leader was unprecedented in Singapore. Getting the necessary permissions, identifying an appropriate venue, overseeing the mammoth logistical operations were all just one part of the story. Getting together such a large number of people, from across the diverse community, was another.

At the onset, it was decided that no event manager would be hired for the show. It was going to be run by the Singapore NRI forum and a committee of volunteers, drawn from across the regional and social forums.

About 40 days before the show, over 1,500 volunteers signed up and the first big meeting was held in the auditorium of the Global Indian School. The school canteen had catered a simple lunch for the volunteers, but food ran short and the harried staff had to rustle up a fresh batch, as the number of people who turned up exceeded the initial estimate.

From then on, there was a series of meetings to break down the groups into smaller committees, assign them tasks and co-ordinate the various parts. Over a hundred organisations, including the Indian Women's Association, Tagore Society, Bhojpuri Association, Kannada Sangha, Maharashtra Mandal and Indian student forums from universities, took part. The cultural segment involved around 25 groups, ranging from the Singapore Indian Fine Arts society (SIFAS) to The Art of Living and Vyasa Yoga foundations.

The noteworthy thing in the community outreach was the manner in which it was done. There was no advertisement blitz for the event. People were rallied together using the traditional method of people-to-people communication. Volunteers personally called up individuals and made visits to community events. This effort was supplemented by e-mails and social media posts.

At some stages, it all seemed strangely like a replay of the great Indian wedding. There was colour, chaos, disagreements and patch-ups, hard work and lots of fun. Then it all came together in the end as something beautiful and memorable.

On the D-day, the gates were supposed to open at 4.30pm, but the foyer was already packed with people at 3pm, and the registration volunteers were called on duty before time. The lobbies were filled with volunteers urgently allocating badges to their teams, performers in full costume doing last minute adjustments, and excited people taking photographs. In the midst of all the frenetic activity, the Singapore security forces secured the area politely and unobtrusively.

The cavernous halls of the Singapore Expo had been decorated with the colours of the Indian flag and had giant screens placed at regular intervals. The stage for the cultural performance and a revolving dais for the prime minister were set in the middle. We were initially apprehensive that people might get restive during the three-hour long cultural performance, but the enthusiastic audience belied our fears. Before we knew it, the cultural show ended and the screens switched to showing clips of the PM's past speeches. The crowd was electrified. They knew that the PM had arrived at the venue and the halls reverberated with chants of "Modi, Modi". When he finally made an entrance, it was like a rock show with a completely charged up atmosphere.

The prime minister spoke of how no country could afford to live in isolation in today's interdependent world. He called upon his people to modernise and renew themselves, while taking pride in their ancient civilisation. He talked of simple things, but it connected with the audience. As his speech ended, the crowd spontaneously chanted "Bharat Mata Ki Jai". And thus, one significant chapter in the story of the NRI community in Singapore came to an end.

For readers who are not familiar with Singapore, the country has a strong Indian presence culturally. There are over a hundred Indian organisations, but most traditionally function on regional lines or cater to specific interest groups. Typically, they work entirely independent of each other. This is the first time when all these groups came together for a common cause. The final outcome was the result of a pan-India effort, and that is one of the most valuable and enduring outcomes of PM Modi's visit.

People who have been a part of similar events across the world will tell you that they are an important part of creating linkages across scattered Indian organisations. This has welded the diaspora in each country into a cohesive network. From a long-term perspective, its value cannot be understated.