Bruin Hindus is warming Bruins’ hearts with diyas this Diwali season.
The Hindu student organization hosted its annual Diwali event in the Ackerman Grand Ballroom on Nov. 14, which featured a prayer ceremony, several performances from South Asian student groups and art activities such as diya painting and henna. Diwali is a Hindu festival that celebrates the triumph of light over darkness. Celebrants typically observe the holiday by lighting up their homes with oil lamps, or diyas, and other lanterns. For Bruin Hindus’ external vice president Ishika Agrawal, the club’s event is a meaningful way to engage with a holiday even when she is away from her family.
“I grew up in India, so we do this (celebrate Diwali) every single year,” Agrawal said. “Coming into UCLA, I was really happy to know that there is a club who is as passionate as me about getting the community together. … We hope all UCLA students … have a good time. It’s like finding a home away from home.”
The fourth-year business economics student said the Bruin Hindus executive board and five committee heads began planning for the event in the summer. Thinking about funding, decorations and marketing early gave the team ample time to hammer out details such as dates and location, Agrawal said, adding that the club continued meeting with committee members weekly throughout fall quarter.
Internal vice president Varsha Rayasam said throwing such a large event on campus can be difficult in terms of logistics and funding. Rayasam, a fourth-year cognitive science student, said there was back-and-forth on several details, such as the exact dates of the event and the required staffing from ASUCLA. However, once the event comes together, Rayasam said it encourages Hindu-rooted community, which students might miss from home.
“It (the aarti) fosters that sense of Hindu-rooted community, which a lot of people miss from home,” Rayasam said. “With the cultural performances, it’s an opportunity for the groups to showcase themselves. … Food is deeply rooted in tradition, so the aim with that is to make people feel closer to their tradition or learn about the Hindu tradition for food.”
One of the main changes in Bruin Hindus’ Diwali event this year was its inability to provide food to guests for free, Rayasam said. She added that the organization’s sponsors for previous years were unable to contribute for this year’s food, which created an extra layer of difficulty in the club’s organization process. Rayasam said organizing an event through ASUCLA had several bureaucratic steps, such as meeting with an event manager in addition to already meeting with the group’s Student Organizations, Leadership and Engagement advisor.
Rayasam said Bruin Hindus’ advisor was critical in vouching for the club to have its payment deadline for the venue extended. She added that the advisor helped to expedite the approval process for Bruin Hindus’ funding, and without her help, it might have had to move the event.
“It does add a sense of pressure,” Rayasam said. “When our sponsors weren’t able to come through, we thought that we might be able to cover the cost of food through UCLA funding, and that just wasn’t the case. … It’s an extra layer of pressure. It’s already difficult to organize the large-scale events, but in addition, the added fear of, ‘We might not be able to do something because it won’t be covered’ is definitely pertinent.”
Rayasam said in the past, funding was always something for the club to think about, but usually there was a security they would have enough. Now, however, she added that the club is thinking about running more fundraisers because of the uncertainty around budget cuts. Despite these challenges, Rayasam said she hopes budget cuts do not inhibit the club’s overall abilities.
Beyond the logistical planning of the show, however, Rayasam said an important part of the event for her is the ability to celebrate the holiday of Diwali with hundreds of students on campus. For Bruin Bhangra dancer Hamza Mahmood, it was meaningful to have representation of his culture and community at UCLA, as that was something he lacked in his hometown. The third-year molecular, cell and developmental biology student said performing at Diwali allowed him to engage with his community on a deeper level.
Mahmood said he spent four hours a week practicing for Bruin Bhangra’s Diwali performance. He added that this was his first time on stage and said he put in several hours with his friends outside of regular practice to ensure he was performing his very best. Mahmood also said it was an honor to put his Punjabi culture on display to the larger South Asian community at the Diwali event.
Through events such as the Diwali celebration and weekly dharma discussions, Agrawal said Bruin Hindus allowed her to learn more about her culture and heritage. Similarly, Rayasam said Diwali allows her to share an important cultural experience with people from different backgrounds, which serves as a “great bonding experience.”
“It’s so amazing to have a family and a culture and representation here,” Mahmood said. “I came from a place with very little representation. Coming here was such a culture shock that there were other people like me that … celebrate the same things.”
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