On Oct. 30, the SGA and the South Asian Cultural Exchange brought the Diwali Festival to ETSU.The event began with a singing of the National Anthem, sang by Jewel Montgomery and Vashi Perry. The Indian National Anthem was also sung by Hursh Patel, Pratiksha Patel, Richa Shah, Vini Patel, Ankit Rathod, Divya Patel and Nickita Zaveri.

Following this, a video presentation was given that showcased the meaning and purpose behind Diwali.

This is a festival that one of the most popular in the country of India and is also known as the Festival of Lights.

It is dedicated to the goddess Kali in Bengal and to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth.

On this night, five different universities gathered in the D.P. Culp Center Auditorium to compete and see who had the best blend of traditional and contemporary Indian dance routines.

The event had seven routines, five teams and two solo performances, which showed a variety of sets and collaborations to the audience.

The two solo dances were performed by Revathi Lakkakula and Ranjani Murthy, both of whom were from ETSU.

Lakkakula’s dance was a Kuchipudi Classical Dance, which is done to honor Lord Ganesh who is the mover of all obstacles.

The other solo performance by Ranjani Murphy was a Kuchipudi Dance Style.

These both seemed to be done in a melodic fashion and were not in the same step as the rest of the team ‘s performances.

The schools involved were ETSU, University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Georgia State University, Georgia Tech and a collaboration between Georgia State University and Georgia Tech.

As the traditional Indian songs blended with the contemporary American tracks that were mixed in with the dance routines, the competitive vibe flowed from the dance groups and into their routines. Some of the songs included were Eminem’s My Name Is and the Jay-Z and Linkin Park collaboration Big Pimpin/ Papercut.

The second place team from this event came from Georgia State University and their Masaledaar Swag team. The winner was the Georgia State/ Georgia Tech collaboration group called Pulse.

The secretary of the S.A.C.E., Joseph Lee, thought this event, which was the first of its kind at ETSU, allowed him to be informed as well as entertained on the Indian cultural.

“For me, it’s totally new since I am not Indian or Southern Asian,” Lee said. “It was a whole new experience, a whole new culture, but what these guys do is amazing and I did not even know they had these kind of competitions.”

Iqra Ahmad, a sophomore who was a part of the ETSU dance group Fusion at the competition felt like the entire experience was great for the ETSU community.

“It was awesome and I felt like we had a really great turnout,” Ahmad said. “I felt good up on stage representing our school.”

Ahmad also commented on the good turnout on a Halloween weekend show of this kind.

“In the back of my mind I was thinking what if nobody shows up,” Ahmad said. “But, we wanted a really good turnout and it was really good.”

Mrs. Laura Terry, director of multicultural affairs, discussed how great it was to pull a Diawali show together after seeing so many herself throughout the years.

“It was an excellent show and it was a blessing to have so many parents, students and alumni come back,” Terry said.

Nickita Zaveri, president of S.A.C.E., discussed the positive aspects of having this event in the ETSU area and how it impacted the community.

“Since the South Asian population is growing here, it would have been very beneficial to have something like this here,” Zaveri said. “We usually go to another school as a visitor and we wanted to let the visitors come see us at our home stage.”

Zaveri also commented on her feelings following the first ever Diwali Festival show and competition at ETSU.

“I felt the show went really well and it was well organized,” Zaveri said. “We went into it knowing what to do and what not to do and at every step we made sure every step was organized so that we didn’t have a flaw and next year people will know what to expect and that it will be even better from now on.”

Zaveri also believes that this will be a show that will continue to come to ETSU following the first-time effort this year.

“I think it will and we have been on good terms with the SGA and the Multicultural Affairs,” Zaveri said. “I think it’s going to be continual.

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