Members of Indian Student Association host ‘Colors of India’
The Indian Student Association recently held its second annual “Colors of India” event on April 9 at 9 p.m. in Esch Hall’s Ransburg Auditorium.
Indian Student Association members perform a traditional Indian wedding. The purpose of this was to give the audience additional insight into Indian culture. Photo contributed by Tanvi Patil
According to ISA president Tanvi Patil, ISA decided to host the event because members of the organization wanted to share their love for music and dance, as well as their knowledge of India’s heritage and history.
Additionally, one of the organization’s goals was to share a compassion for India with fellow American friends.
“India is a very vast and diverse country in all of the aspects like cultural, social, economical, educational and many more,” Patil said. “It is a great place to get to know about.”
The ISA is a student-run organization whose purpose is to showcase Indian culture.
“We try to organize cultural events so that the American students can get to know the Indian culture personally, by being a part of these events,” Patil said.
Patil said that all of the ISA members play a vital role in planning “Colors of India.” One of the many steps in the planning process is choosing the activities to be incorporated into the event.
“Colors of India” began with a speech by Patil, followed by the semiclassical dance “Ganesh Vandana.”
“According to the Indian culture, before starting any auspicious event, we worship the God. Lord Ganesha, [also known as] Ganpati in the Indian mythology, is considered very divine,” Patil said. “The ‘Ganesh Vandana’ dance was a calling to the God to shower his blessing on everyone present there, and for the event to be a success.”
After this religious dance, a fashion show was held to showcase Indian ethnic clothing. Parul Aneja, a fashion designer from Delhi, India, provided the clothes for the fashion show. The clothing included suits (salwar-kameez) and sarees.
Geri Watson, assistant director of the University of Indianapolis International Division, modeled the clothes.
Junior international relations and French major Yaa Akaa Opoku attended the event and was impressed with what she saw.
“I was amazed at how well the group portrayed Indian culture,” she said. “It was really well done.”
The finale of the program was the “Indian Wedding Musical,” which gave a glimpse of the very famous arranged marriage tradition of India. The various marriage traditions were depicted by dances to Bollywood songs.
“After coming here, one very common question that people asked almost all of us was about the Indian tradition of arranged marriages,” Patil said. “So we thought that this was a good opportunity for us to tell about the marriage tradition in a very different and a very visual form.”
Patil said that she hoped UIndy students and the faculty enjoyed themselves and became aware of the various aspect of India’s diverse culture.
“I found that there’s so much I didn’t know about how rich culture in India is,” Opoku said. “The event was so educational and I’m glad I went to support my friends and fellow students.”
