University Diwali Show Rant
by Rajun Shah
If you look at most Asian or Indian societies at a university campus in Britain, you will notice that Diwali celebrations usually feature prominently in the annual schedule of activities. And what is done in these Diwali celebrations? Often merely a club night, or for the more creative societies, a show followed by an after-party. What do the shows consist of? Cat walks, hip-hop, RnB and Bollywood dances, a couple of Karate or Kung-fu displays and… well that’s pretty much it. Of course many people take it as an opportunity to get drunk, and there will be an after party of some sort, that is the same as almost any other club night that most students go to three or four times a week.
October 24th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
I can’t speak for any of the other universities around the country but if what is mentioned in the article is true then I’m proud to say Imperial College London does not follow the same trend.
The Hindu Soceity here organises its famous ‘Ujaali’ night every year to celebrate Diwali, consisting of garba, dandiya-raas, aarti and a dance performance in the interval - this year’s I know is going to be a special treat!
Its a great night for everone to congregate, mingle and celebrate together in the Great Hall in a traditional and respectful way, enjoying our cultural heritage. It is a huge success every year and I know many students from all different universities, whatever religion they are and however religious they may be appreciate being able to celebrate in this way, especially if they are not able to go home to do so.
This year Ujaali is on Thurs 26th Oct and anyone who wishes to join us is more than welcome- check out www.union.ic.ac.uk/scc/hindu/ for information.
October 25th, 2006 at 2:03 am
Way back in 1993, I was amazed at how Divali was turned into Disco at the University of Birmingham. Glad to hear that some of the Unis are going to do some religious events.
I am a Hindu, from Guyana.
October 25th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
We have all year to go to as many parties as we want, but when it comes to our most important festival-Diwali, we should try and celebrate it the right way rather than make it even more trivial than it is now.
I also want to say that the NHSF thats National Hindu Students Forum are doing a good job for the most part.
October 26th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Diwali is a festival of lights for all the Hindus (everyone who is originally from Hindustan) and it would be most appropriate to have Hindu Cultural Programmes or events:
to depict the auspiciousness of the day;
to remind every Hindu in every corner of the world how respectable we Hindus are when it comes to clothing;
to show the world that we represent a race that has the highest morals humanity can have (as Swami Vivekanand said);
to remind the world that we Hindustanis are the most peace loving people in the world; we have the highest form of tolerance that man can have;
to remind our children that so many great saints have been born on Hindustan’s soil;
to prove to the world that we do not practice religion, but everyday we live a religious life;
In short this is the day when we can ignite the sparks of the good forgotten past every year thus ensuring the burning of the good “fire” in the heart of every Hindustani, no matter where he is in the world.
October 28th, 2006 at 10:40 am
The students who normally organize India Society may not be either Indian or Hindu. I have seen India Society in Cambridge was full of Pakistanis. ADewali celebration or Holi celebration means an occasion to cook dal, biriyani etc and to get a girl through disco. The organiser have no regard for Hindu religion or Indian culture, all of them were educated in various convent or residential schools where they know more about fest and fads but have contempt for anything Hindu. However, these crwod would normally when they would be older would go into IFS, or upper layer of the Indian corporate world. That is the reason we see total disregard for anything Hindu in Indian media or in the administration.
Muslims can organize Iftar party in Haridwar polluting the Ganges, would the Hindus would be allowed to organize Holi in the Taz Mahal?
October 28th, 2006 at 2:21 pm
I am a proud hindu from Guyana, and I grew up celebrating Diwali as an auspicious holiday. I think what is changing the world today with the young adults referring to hindus is that they have lost the teachings they grew with.Hiduisum is a very repectful and great religion to continue to live, after all, as hindus, embrace your hindu culture with pure modesty and love, please do not let it fade away.God’s Blessings to the National Hindu Students Forum.
October 30th, 2006 at 1:30 pm
Monal, how does celebrating Diwali by having dandia raas and garba, where you mingle with the opposite sex differ 1stly from making it a night club event and 2ndly how does it reinforce the message of Diwali.
The only good thing that you can say is you don’t have alcohol at your dandia-raas but at the end of the day im sorry that’s not what Diwali is. Fair enough the only way you’re going to attract people to come to your groups by having these garbas etc but that doesn’t mean its right,
The message of Diwali is not by doing garba and raas that’s Navratri- and for those people that actually think “Yeh its Diwali so lets organize a club event” well they have got a long long way to go.
November 4th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
I agree with the authour on this one…
Sad to say, it is a global trend.
Try WITS Uni’s ‘Dance Masti’ why don’t you?