Stepping into the dim lighting of the ballroom of the Student Union, students experienced a celebration of the festival of lights through UT’s Indian American Association’s annual Diwali festival.
The Indian American Association — IAA — transformed the Student Union ballroom into a space filled with colorful decorations and traditional Indian music on Thursday, Oct. 24. Students painted diyas, applied henna and enjoyed Indian food while dressed in traditional Indian clothing.
Diwali is a five-day festival honoring the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. Typically, Diwali is celebrated with family, decorating homes with lights, candles and colorful patterns of dyed powder known as rangoli. The festival symbolizes the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil, with traditions that include lighting diyas, sharing sweets, wearing new clothes and gathering with loved ones.
However, many students on UT’s campus, including Liya Patel, a senior biomedical engineering student, are not able to celebrate with family during the school year. For these students, IAA’s Diwali festival offers a taste of home.
“There’s been many years where I couldn’t go home for Diwali,” Patel said. “It’s just nice to still be able to celebrate your culture and be with your friends in, unfortunately, times you can’t go home to celebrate.”
Being able to experience tradition not only benefits the students, says Shlok Shinde, a sophomore computer science major. His parents, too, are comforted by the fact that he is able to participate in Diwali while at UT.
“I know my parents really miss me for Diwali, and it makes them feel really good as well that I’m also connecting with my roots and celebrating what they’re celebrating at home with my friends here,” Shinde said. “It feels good because you don’t really get to celebrate your culture all the time. I know most colleges don’t do this, and so it’s pretty special to be able to do it at UT.”
That sense of belonging and cultural pride is what the IAA hopes to bring to campus each year. The organization’s goal is to celebrate and share Indian culture with the wider UT community through events like Diwali and other cultural showcases.
Pari Patel, a kinesiology major and freshman representative on IAA’s executive board, said that the festival is not just for Indian students, but rather open to everyone interested in learning and celebrating together.
“You should come, even if you’re not Indian, even if you’re not Hindu, you should come,” Pari Patel said. “It’s just so fun to be able to celebrate other cultures.”
For many students, IAA events like Diwali are also a first step toward finding a sense of community on campus.
Khushi Mand, a freshman nursing major, said joining IAA helped her adjust to college life.
“Coming to campus, especially as a first generation student, it’s kind of hard knowing what it’s like to be in college and meet people outside of your own bubble of where you grew up,” Mand said. “I think my first step was to meet people who are similar to me, and one of the most important factors of my life is being Indian.”
Heta Patel, a senior in public health and a director of KKJ, a Bollywood fusion dance competition at UT, praised the executive team for helping set up the event.
“They put a lot of effort into the games as well as the decorations,” Patel said. “We just want to make it fun for everyone, even people who are not familiar with Indian culture, they can still see what we like to do during Diwali.”
Mand encourages those looking for a community at UT to join IAA to experience more cultural events such as this one.
“We’re a really welcoming bunch, and we’d love to meet you,” Mand said. “At the end of the day, we all just want to make friends and help everyone feel welcome.”
