To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

By 7 a.m., crews had set up large white and gold columns that were later draped in brightly colored scarves.

"Austin is a diverse, multicultural, very progressive, accepting city, it's great," Nehal Sanghavi said.

Sanghavi is a co-chair of the India Community Center, which hosted the event.

"When you move 10,000 miles away from your home country and you raise your family in a foreign land, you start to assimilate more in mainstream culture," he said. "You can always do that with a hint of curry, a hint of Bollywood and hint of Hindi."

High school student Neethi Nayak and her sister Eesha came to the celebration to perform a traditional Indian song.

"It is very special to me, because I've grown up here, and all of my relatives live in India," Neethi said. "It's kind of my connection to them, and it's what makes us closer."

According to their mother, Vandana Nayak, exposing her children to their roots through music and celebration is an important way to maintain the balance between Indian and American culture.

"It's important to assimilate in society, it's very, very important to do that, but at the same time it enriches you as a person to be closer to your roots and know where you are coming from."

According to organizers, the event was expected to draw about 1,200 people, just a small part of the estimated 20,000 members of the Indian community living in the Austin area.