NEW YORK: People are coming by chartered flights, buses and trains, besides driving down to New York from all over North America, as the Indian diaspora comes together on an unprecedented scale to honour Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a community reception at New York's Madison Square Garden in midtown Manhattan Sunday.

About 18,500 people will be at the venue , while several thousand more are expected to watch the reception on a large monitor set up in Times Square and in video relays at more than 40 universities across the U.S, according to Anand Shah, the spokesperson for Indian American Community Foundation that is organizing it.

"An event like this is something that is monumental for our community," he said of the enthusiastic response. More than 30,000 people registered for tickets and the 18,500 were chosen by a lottery. Another 2,000 were placed on a waiting list.

More than 400 organizations have signed on as Welcome Partners for the event, itself an unprecedented show of unity in the community. Although Shah would not say how much has been raised so far to pay for the function, he said the foundation received several thousand modest contributions online.

"It's largely individuals who recognize the inflection point that India-U.S relations are at (and) the opportunity to bring Indian Americans and Americans together and show that India and the U.S can have stronger relations," he said.

"This is the first time a community reception of this scale is being organized," Thomas Abraham, the founder of the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) and one of the pioneers in organizing Indian community events, said.

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Source: IANS