Indian Student Association to celebrate Diwali with authentic Indian food, music and traditions
Diwali is India’s biggest, and one of the most important, holidays of the year. Diwali is usually celebrated over the span of a five-day festival. It is also known as the festival of lights for the clay lamps known as diyas, which are lit to symbolize the spiritual victory of good over evil.
UHCL Indian’s Student Association (ISA) has planned for their celebration of the annual festival to be held on Sunday, Nov. 18 in Atrium II of the Bayou Building. Admission for the festival is $8 for non-ISA members and $6 for ISA members. The event starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 11:30 p.m.
There will be authentic Indian dishes such as biryani chicken, chicken chettinad, mixed vegetable curry, vegetable pakora vegetable and chicken pepper fry. Students can also sample out some of the authentic desserts such as gulab jamun.
There will also be a DJ playing traditional Indian music mixed with Bollywood style music, dance performances to modern Indian music, singing performances and instrumental performances using an Indian tabla.
Sadhvi Gurulingaiah Eswasa, ISA member and management information systems major, said participating in celebrations such as Diwali is about embracing everyone’s diversity.
“We should know more about each other’s cultures,” Eswasa said. “As most of the the international students are from India, we feel that Diwali has to be celebrated because that is one of the most refined festivals in India. Keeping our culture alive abroad, I think Diwali is a must.”
Diwali is a time for families and friends to gather and share gifts with one another. It is also traditional for homes to be cleaned and new clothes to be worn at the time of the festival.
“Diwali reminds us of our home and the fun times with our family,” said Vamsi Krishna Karanam, ISA secretary and computer engineer major. “During the time of the festival families come together.”
The Diwali celebration at UHCL will commemorate the Festival of Lights. Diwali varies across cultures, religions and regions but the five days of Diwali consists of: Dhanteras (day of fortune), Naraka Chaturdasi (day of knowledge), Diwali(day of light), Annakut (New Year), and Bhai Duj (day of love between siblings). Day of love between siblings traditionally is one of the few days when brothers could visit their married sisters’ homes, to ensure they were being well cared for.
“This is a very unique festival because there is a lot of history behind the festival”, Eswasa said. “A lot of struggle of the people ended at this point and so when everyone got freedom everyone came together to celebrate it.”
Ankita Tungidwar, ISA special event coordinator and management information system major, along with ISA officers hope for a nice turnout and want all students to know they are invited .
“A misconception for the festival is that it is only for ISA members, but it is for open for all,” Tungidward said. “We always say that it is open for all, and my goal is to gather people from different backgrounds 一domestic, international and from other countries 一 to gather for this event.”
ISA accepts new members all year round. The organization is home to Indian students studying away from home and open to any UHCL student regardless of major. Members pay a small fee of $3 to join the organization. There are about 300 active members in the organization, and it is continuing to grow. For more information regarding ISA, students can visit their website or social media page.
