Hindu societies unite to celebrate Diwali

It was singing, dancing and cultural performances all the way at Sydney University, after the Hindu societies of four universities decided they would welcome Diwali in style, reminiscent of the celebrations at home. Dressed to kill, over a 100 young desi girls and boys were attired in their best salwar kameezes and kurtas for the big night of Diwali 2009.

The Hindu societies – Vishwaas at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Om at the University of Sydney, Josh at Macquarie University and Om Shanti at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) came together, for the first time, to host a combined Diwali event on October 8.

In an attempt to recreate the colourful atmosphere of the ‘festival of lights’, the students fused culture and youthfulness, which was reflected in their performances that took off with the ‘traditional aarthi’ and culminated with a DJ belting out popular Bollywood songs. Students from different universities showcased their talent through singing and dancing, and even an antakshri of Hindi songs. Students also formed different teams and played trivia.

“Celebrating an Indian festival helps forge a sense of belonging. The idea is to get together and celebrate such events. Many students are far from home and can feel homesick when they are living in another country all by themselves. Such festivities hope to help them integrate into society and forms a common base that relate to our culture,” says Deepika Patwardhan, president of Vishwaas at UNSW.

“This is first time we decided to hold a united cultural event. We usually celebrate festivals in our own universities. But this time we decided to be different and celebrate Diwali for students of the four universities, and it has been a great success. We have set the bar high for ourselves now,

2009 were awesome and all of us had a great time. I think the overall feeling was that the event was indeed very enjoyable and well-organised,” says Amritha Subramanian from Om Shanti, who organised the trivia round.

Vishwaas is the oldest Hindu society among the four and was formed in 2006, while the others were formed subsequently. The students meet to discuss the different tenets of Hinduism and the relevance of its principles. “We don’t preach Hinduism. Instead, we discuss the meanings behind different aspects of the religion. Hinduism is a way of life and the idea of the university societies is to encourage debates on the relevance of one of the world’s oldest religions to youth today,” says Deepika

Patwardhan, who is an Australian-Indian. “I have been brought up in a Hindu family and was not allowed to question any beliefs. However, the societies in their weekly meetings, are encouraged to question,” she says, adding that the societies were open for anyone to join and understand Hinduism.

Besides celebrating festivals like Diwali, Holi, Navaratri, the societies also hold cricket matches and cultural nights regularly.

Anjali Chandhok, a student at the University of Sydney, who attended the event, said that the event reminded her of the festivities back home. “Festivals like Diwali always make you wish you were with your family. But it was really great to see the energy of all the Indians at the Diwali celebrations and I felt completely at home. Universities should celebrate more festivals to enhance community spirit and bring students together,” says Chandhok, who was the DJ at the event.

“It was the first combined university event and was great to attend. The entertainment and the food provided were also great. I think more of such events should be organised in the future,” observed Dinesh Ramanan, one of the founding members of Vishwaas.

Preeti Kannan

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