On April 6 in the Pitman Center’s International Ballroom, the Indian Students Association hosted “India Night.” Students and local community members gathered to help share Indian culture through dance, singing and more.
The event lasted from 6-8 p.m. and was packed with people in almost every seat. The performances showcased a multitude of performers, ranging from Bollywood dancing to singing and even poetry.
Each performance was led with a brief explanation of the regional area that it was from and a quick history of the culture.
Despite the event not happening for the past two years, this year’s India Night had a larger turnout for attendance, with 300 to 400 people attending the event.
The main coordinator for this event was Vaishnavi Pandey, the vice president of Indian Students Association. Pandey said that the event took months to plan with many sleepless nights. Lots of time and work went into planning this event, from finding a location to host the event to finding performers and cooking the food.
“We were preparing the food for the past three days, shopping one day and then making sure everything was marinated one day, and everything like that,” Pandey said.
According to Pandey, this event is significant to the community because it allows people to build connections with each other and share cultures.
“There are so many other cultures and people here as well. It’s introducing our Indian culture to them,” Pandey said.
With the importance of sharing Indian culture, the advisor for the Indian Students Association, Sanjay Sisodiya, said there is a lot of consideration about making sure to have equal representation of all of India.
“India is such a very large country; you don’t want to have one part of the country shine much more or have shade on it more than anyone,” Sisodiya said.
This event is important to Sisodiya since it allows him to connect with old friends and help build relationships in the local community.
“It’s a great way for the community to reconnect, as well as to have members of the Indian community … connect with the outside world, get a taste of what India is,” Sisodiya said.
Not only did students at the University of Idaho perform, but people from across the Palouse came to support and perform at India Night.
Parteek Kumar, a WSU Indian Student Chapter member and a teacher at WSU, came to perform his poetry. Kumar’s motivation to perform at this event was to share what he is writing as well as see how many people are coming from across different cultures to celebrate India.
“The participation from all across different peoples, from all across the world at single stage, this is a great feeling,” Kumar said.
Another performer was Somitha Vaishavi Nacainthran, who went on stage with a group of three other moms for a dance. Nacainthran said that the reason they decided to do this event was to get out of the house, socialize and have fun.
“This event is very special, because in our very busy lives, working nine to five, kids back-to-back, I think this is an amazing place to catch up with friends, some good food and have people talk about how this place has lots of history,” Nacainthran said.
After the large success of this year’s India Night, Pandey said that she wishes to continue the legacy of this event for years to come.
“I think we’re going to continue this legacy for all the years we are in here and even after we leave after we graduate, so I just believe everyone should come check it out and then meet new people,” Pandey said.
Reagan Jones can be reached at arg-life@uidaho.edu