Indian students celebrate festival
India didn’t seem too far during the Festival of Lights celebration Saturday Oct. 18 in the TSC Ballroom. The festival was put together by the Indian Student Association in accordance with Diwali.
The festival began with an introduction on the history and background of Diwali by the president of the Indian Student Association, Aditya Jain, a computers and marketing senior. It also included an introduction by the President of USU, Stan Albrecht, and economics professor and advisor of ISA, Basudeb Biswas.
Albrecht discussed the importance of ISA celebrating the Festival of Lights and the opportunity that the larger community had to participate in the festivities that accompany Diwali.
Jain tried to give audience members some background information on Diwali and the Festival of Lights.
Jain said, “It goes 6,000 years back and its purpose is to celebrate good over evil.”
Diwali is a celebration of the good over the evil that exists in everyone, Jain said.
“It is to take us from truth to truth, from darkness to light,” Viswas said.
It is a time to ask forgiveness and to forgive, a time to better one’s self he said.
After Diwali was introduced the program commenced with different performers starting with internationally acclaimed dancer Mohina Attum who performed the “Dance of the Enchantress,” Jain said. Many other performances followed including 11-year-old dancer Vyvia Marayn, who performed a traditional Southern Indian dance and Shasha Reddy, who performed a variety dance said Jain.
The theme of this year’s Festival of Lights was Bollywood.
“We really wanted to highlight Bollywood and how it is a successful industry and how it has been there in black and white and since the ‘50s” Jain said.
“India was really recognized by the world during the Cold War when they banned Hollywood movies, they had nothing to watch, so they watched us,” said Sanket Khargaonkr, an announcer at the event. India has been able to have an influence on the world and Western culture had a large influence on India, as made evident in their films, Khargaonkr said.
A portion of the event focused on an NGO that the ISA supports called CRY, which is an acronym for Children’s Rights and You. Samder Makki, the Utah State representative for CRY, said that CRY at USU helps to raise awareness about the levels of poverty and lack of education for children in India. This organization has helped educate 1.5 million students in 18 Indian states, Makki said.
“We believe that children should have a life in their own right … the same human rights that we have,” Makki said.
The night ended with dinner, more performances and a fashion show featuring traditional Indian dress.
“I liked all of the events, I really liked the fusion dance, but that is a new event that has never been in the festival and I think that it was a success,” said Hemang Patel, a third year student in biological engineering program and vice president of ISA.
Khargaonkr agreed with Patel about the quality of the performances.
“We really respect the discipline and hard work that they put into it. Everyone did their best,” Khargaonkr said.
Patel said that he felt it was important for people to understand the Indian culture and that Diwali was the best way to provide it.
“We are really grateful to the people that come to the Festival of Lights. We have some that come every year and some new ones every year,” Patel said. “I think people here are really friendly and ask me many questions but at Diwali, where we can display our culture, people can have their questions answered by many different perspectives of different Indian students at the Festival.”
–beck.turner@aggiemail.usu.edu
Indian Student Association members put on the Festival of Lights Saturday, which included dinner, performances and a fashion show. The theme of this year’s Festival of Lights was Bollywood, striving to show the influence Bollywood has had on the world market. (Jordan Checketts)