Sydney: Indians abroad celebrated the country's Independence Day today (Aug 15, 2004) by hoisting the tricolour at diplomatic missions and holding cultural programmes.

In Australia, expatriate Indians gathered at the residence of the Indian Consul General in Sydney, M Ganpathi to celebrate the day.

At the chime of 9 am local time, Ganapathi unfurled the tricolour in the garden of his suburban Killara residence and read out President A P J Abdul Kalam's address to the nation.

Independence Day is also being celebrated at the Sydney branch of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Bhavan Australia is staging 'World Culture Festival', a grand four-hour celebration of music, art and culture at the Sydney Town Hall this evening.

In Canberra, Indian High Commissioner Prabhat Prakash Shukla unfurled the national flag. Local Indians in New Castle, Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and Brisbane are also celebrating the day by showcasing India's cuisine and culture.

The Indian High Commission in Pakistan celebrated Independence Day today with flag hoisting ceremony and singing of the national anthem.

Departing from tradition, the national flag was hoisted by Rahul, son of one of the officials of Indian High Commission, instead of the High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon.

The boy was chosen to hoist the flag from the lots drawn among the children of the staff of the High Commission.

After the flag hoisting, Menon read the Presidential address, while the children of the staff sang national songs.

The ceremony was attended by Deputy High Commissioner, T.CA. Raghanvan, senior diplomats, staff and their families.

In Myanmar, a colourful ceremony was held at India House, the residence of the Consul General in Mandalay where around 250 Indian nationals and persons of Indian origin celebrated the day.

Consul General P K Bhutani unfurled the national flag, which was followed by singing of national anthem and reading out of the President's address to the nation.

Hundreds of Indians gathered at the Indian embassy in Moscow to participate in the flag hoisting ceremony.

India's outgoing Ambassador to Russia, Krishnan Raghunath, unfurled the tri-colour on the rainy morning amid the chords of national anthem.

School children of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Moscow, sang patriotic songs highlighting the unity in diversity of the Indian society.

Flag hoisting ceremonies were also held at Indian diplomatic missions in St. Petersburg, Valdivostok and capitals of the CIS countries, including Almaty, Baku, Dushanbe, Tashkent, Kiev and Minsk.

In Israel, Indian Ambassador Raminder Singh Jassal hoisted the tri-colour and read out the President's address at a ceremony at his residence in Herzliya amidst an unprecedented turn-out of the Indian community members to celebrate the Independence Day.

A cultural programme was also organised on the occasion by the Indian Jewish cultural group, Namaste Israel.

President of the Central Organisation of Indian Jews, Noah Massil, said, "We are proud of our Indian heritage.... We look forward to strengthen political and cultural ties with the country of our origin."

In Canada, Indians celebrated the day with patriotic fervour and traditional gaiety.

Hundreds of Toronto-based Indian families gathered at the Indian Consulate for the flag hoisting ceremony to mark the occasion.

After reading the President's address to the nation, Consul General, Divyabh Manchanda, greeted his compatriots and urged them to preserve the unity in diversity.

The day was marked by cultural programmes and singing of patriotic songs by students. Padamshree Kiran Segal and her troupe performed Odissi dance at the York University to mark the occasion. The programme was jointly organised by Kala Nidhi Fine Arts of Canada and the Consulate General of India.

The day was also celebrated with great enthusiasm by Indians in Ottawa and Vancouver.