Last Sunday at 5 pm the Indian Student Association presented a show popularly known as Diwali Night, the festival of light where people get together to celebrate life. The event took place at the Crimson and Gold Ballroom and the celebration continued until 8 pm. The main attractions included a fashion show, a presentation on Diwali and a Bhangra dance choreography. Also, classical music performances and Bollywood dance.Tasting of traditional Indian Food and the celebration concluded with a fireworks show.
According to the president of the Indian student association Navneet Kaur, the name Diwali is formed from two words: ''Deep'' meaning ''Lamps'' and ''awali'' meaning ''rows,'' so the entire word Deepwali means ''Row of Lamps''.
''We celebrate it back home in almost every region of India and we do it by filling our household with lights and it is a very traditional occasion,'' said the sophomore in Accounting. ‘’All the most important preparations have been made in the last month and that includes all the performances and presentations.’’
Kaur said: ‘’We organize this event every year and we try to get people involved as much as possible, including Americans and other international students from countries besides India,’’ she said.
According to her, there are currently 70 students from India studying at PSU. ‘’I am actually performing one of the numbers, which is a folk dance from the North region and there will also be a Bollywood show, as well as music performances with classical infusion,’’ said Kaur.
They were also serving Indian traditional meals like chicken Tikka Massala, cooked in cream sauce and spices. Accompanied with boiled basmati rice and Palak Paneer, made with fresh spinach and homemade cheese. Guests could also enjoy the Indian traditional white bread called Naan and a sweet mango lassi, made from yogurt and mango pulp.
‘’We tried to make the meals a little mild this time because Indian food is usually really spicy and not everyone is used to it; but we kept the exact taste from home,’’ said Kaur.
‘’It is nice to show our culture and wear all our traditional clothes; even though I wear it normally, it feels good to wear it in front of people from other countries and represent ours.’’
According to Navneet Kaur: ‘’The PSU student government association supported us and we also got sponsorships from companies like the US bank, because they really like our event and they want us to make it bigger every year,’’ she said.
‘’I just want to thank the entire audience from the Pittsburg area because we had students and families from the community; and we also had people from Joplin here today,’’ said Kaur.
Katie Laidler, senior in early/ late childhood development said: ‘’This is my first time experiencing an event like this and it was really amazing, I had a blast getting exposed to the Indian culture, especially since I was a part of the Fashion show tonight,’’ she said.
According to Ananda Jayawardhana, professor from the math department: ‘’It was a lot of work for the students to first of all raise money for the event, as well as practicing all the performances and getting the food ready.’’
‘’It was challenging but the result was very successful, Indian students are special in many different ways, mostly because they are well prepared kids and they are always willing to contribute with others,’’ he said.
Jinxin Wang, graduate student in communication said: ‘’The event was really good and now I know what Diwali means; also why they celebrate it. I also thought it was interesting that a lot of other countries besides India have this tradition, and I feel like everybody can connect to the idea.’’
‘’My favorite part was the dancing because it was really joyful and I watch a lot of Bollywood movies so I enjoyed that, and the food was very delicious as well,’’ said Wang.
People on this particular festival show their happiness by lighting earthen 'diyas' (lamps) decorating their houses, bursting firecrackers and inviting near and dear ones to their place for partaking in a sumptuous feast. The lighting of lamps is a way of paying obeisance to God for attainment of health, wealth, knowledge, peace, valor and fame.
No comments:
Post a Comment