Saturday night was a night of festivities in the West Hall Auditorium. The Indian Students Association unleashed its annual Diwali Show, an exhibition of the Indian arts for all of the Rensselaer community to enjoy.
Diwali, also known as the “Festival of Lights,” is an annual event where the people of India enjoy five vivacious days of celebration. Diwali reflects the rich culture and tradition of India. Members of the ISA E-board—including President Kalyan Vishnubhatla ’07, Vice President Aparajit Naram ’08, Secretary Thomas Madaelil ’08, and Treasurer Jayanth Krishnamurthi ’09—worked extremely hard to bring a taste of this famous Indian celebration to RPI. “The common theme every year is passing on knowledge of our culture to whoever attends. It’s a way for our students to share what they love about Indian culture to a multicultural audience,” said Naram.
This year’s theme of the Diwali Show was MTV Desi, emceed by Rahul Gupta ’08 and Uzair Memon ’08. This year’s skits displayed Indian-American versions of hit MTV shows, such as “Laguna Beach” (Banglaguna Beach), “Parental Control” and “Wild ‘n’ Out.” Performers poked fun at Indian-American culture throughout these skits. Parental Control, in particular, displayed a comical view of Indian parent-child relationships, especially when it comes to dating. Parents (Teena Charalel ’09 and Sean Sarkar ’08) wanted their daughter (Mauli Shah ’09) to stop dating her current gangsta rapper boyfriend, Sandeep (Ranjeet Minocha ’08), and instead date creepy-yet-orthodox Romantic Rohan (Madaelil). In the end, the daughter decided to leave the decision up to the audience, and the audience picked Ro Ro.
Stylish Indian dancing was the highlight of the show. Many incredibly talented performers took center stage that night. Vidhya Aroumougame ’08, Arati Patil ’09, and Shah stunned the crowd with their compelling dance routine called Pyaar, the Hindi word for love. The Evolution of Dance, performed by an octet, Neil
Desai ’09, Shazaan Hushmendy ’10, Shankar Kar ’09, Dhruv Pandya ’10, Amit Parikh ’07, Nehal Patel ’07, Alex Thachara ’10, and Memon was a brilliant display of successive decades of Indian dance music.
The country of India was not the only one represented in the show. Members of the Nigerian Students Association, including Ikenna Okoli ’07 and Chiamaka Nwaizu ’07, showed their stuff on stage as well, adding their own Nigerian flavor to the mix.
RPI was also not the only college represented in the show either. The bhangra troupe of our good neighbor, Siena College, livened up the stage with its energetic moves.
Audience members also listened to fine renditions of popular contemporary Indian music. Duo Shazneen Hushmendy ’07 and graduate student Ajay Malaviya, sang the final note with their piece called “Never Say Goodbye.” Krishnamurthi sang karnatik, which is a classical style of Indian vocals. Indian instruments were also showcased including the tabla, a classical Indian percussion instrument composed of two drums, played by Naram, and the sitar, a classical Indian stringed instrument, played by Kevin Itwaru ’08.
Fashion was another hot topic of the Diwali Show. The fashion shows showcased many different styles of Indian dress, including the traditional sari, worn by the females, and the dhoti and kurta, worn by the males.
During the intermission, audience members enjoyed delicious pakoras, which are made of chicken, onion, eggplant, and various other ingredients deep-fried in gram flour batter, along with mango juice.
The night was ended with an impressive final performance called “Pehla Nasha,” performed by Renuka Bhisetti ’10, Sonia Brar ’08, Desai, Shankar Kar ’09, Memon, and Akhila Pamula ’10. The Indian Students Association waved a solemn goodbye to all the seniors for their years of hard work and dedication. “I think it is fair to say when you have 80+ people either performing in acts, skits, backstage, cleaning up, or even selling tickets, it pulls us all together—hence the unity,” said Vishnubhatla.
