By Assunta Ng [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Guests at the WASITRAC event (Photo by Assunta Ng/NWAW)"]

[/caption] On Aug. 15, a group of Indian Americans were celebrating India’s 64th Independence Day at Il Terrazzo Carmine. Why Italian? The organizer, WASITRAC, said it wanted something special to commemorate the occasion. The Italian restaurant has a flair for veggie dishes. Nirmal Agarwal, the guest of honor, and his family members are vegetarians. Agarwal is the executive director of Adhunik, a group of companies with a successful track record of consistent growth and profitability in the areas of mining, power, and steel. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="From left: Nirmal Agarwal, Tay Yoshitani, and Debadutta Dash (Photo by Assunta Ng/NWAW)"]

[/caption] At the WASITRAC event, Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani and his wife were also guests. Suddenly, it was announced that Tay’s birthday is Aug. 16. Why not sing “Happy Birthday” to him? So the toast began for 65-year-old Tay with Italian food and wine from his Indian friends. I was surprised that no Italian or Indian words were ever spoken. Just, “Cheers, Tay!” ♦