USU celebrates India’s festival of lights
More than 400 people gathered in the Taggart Student Center ballroom Saturday night to watch Indian dances, listen to Indian music and eat Indian food in celebration of Diwali.
Ravi Gupta, director of religious studies at Utah State University, said Diwali takes place on the new moon night at the end of India’s monsoon season when the sky is darkest, celebrating the triumph of light over darkness.
“Often we appreciate light the most — not in the daytime — but when there is no light at night,” Gupta said. “The little lights in our life: perhaps it’s the candles at a dinner table or maybe it’s a lamp at the bedside as we fall asleep reading.”
The event featured several people singing Indian songs. Shantanu Saxena, a graduate student studying computer science, performed a song in Punjabi. He said the song is about a man expressing his feelings about how hard it is to be without his ex-girlfriend after a recent break up.
“It’s more about the feelings, not the words and the theme,” Saxena said. “It’s actually the music that makes you emotional about the song.”
The types of dances varied: some were modern and others were classical pieces performed by people wearing vibrant-colored, traditional Indian clothing.
Srisurya Sidharthan, a senior at InTech High School who danced at the event, said her performance was a classical piece about a girl who is devoted to the Hindu god Krishna and how she pretends to be with him.
Priyabrat Dash, president of the Indian Student Association and graduate student studying computer engineering, said Diwali celebrates the win of good over evil.
“An Indian protagonist killed a demon on that day and people celebrate it,” Dash said.
Dash said Diwali is celebrated by everyone in India.
“India is a secular country as you know,” Dash said. “We have people of all kinds of religions but we all celebrate Diwali together.”
Saxena said USU’s Diwali event is not how Indians typically celebrate it. He said families meet, exchange sweets, light firecrackers and light candles to remove the darkness from their home.
Gupta said during Diwali, all lights are illuminated.
“It’s a day where everyone lights every light that they have: in their home, in their shops, in their places of work,” Gupta said.
Dash said learning about cultural celebrations like Diwali can help people excel in business.
“Business happens in global levels, and people have to understand each other’s cultural thinking to excel in their own personal businesses,” Dash said.
KC Sorensen, an employee at the Office of Global Engagement at USU who took part in one of the performances, said understanding other cultures can change erroneous perceptions about why people are the way they are.
“You can see how it’s based in things that are common to everyone like family, people, food,” Sorensen said.
Sorensen said the fact that there are people from around the world living in Logan is beneficial to whoever wants to learn about other cultures.
“Since we can’t travel all the way around the world all the time for these different things, it’s nice that we’ve got students from all over and to be able to let them show us a little bit what life is like for them,” Sorensen said.
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