Diwali and Tihar celebration illuminates Harris Center

South Asian Student Organization (SASO) and Nepali Student Organization (NEPSO) lit up the dim Harris Center with the annual Diwali and Tihar celebration featuring over 100 performers on Nov. 22. This year, organizers aimed to not only celebrate Diwali and Tihar but to explain their significance through personal narrative and pictures of past festivities.

“We wanted to make it more personal, and we wanted to give people a story,” said SASO President Farhan Rahman `27. After the organizers’ opening performance, members of SASO and NEPSO created a presentation with photos from their childhood showing how they celebrated Diwali and Tihar throughout the years. 

Aditi Earla `28, SASO cabinet member, said that Diwali signifies fresh beginnings, light over darkness and a sense of community as you celebrate with your loved ones and friends. 

SASO and NEPSO began preparing for Diwali and Tihar in October. NEPSO cabinet members Avaash Bhattarai `26, Diya Shrestha `26 and Mae Adhikari `26 had experience with organizing Diwali for the past three years, so they helped the newly elected SASO cabinet with delegating tasks and dividing the responsibilities needed to have the event, such as budgeting and catering. 

Mae Adhikari and Diya Shrestha surround Avaash Bhattarai, all `26, during the fourth-year dance. (Alissa Booth)

“I think we were very organized for how hectic it was, because we are responsible for choreographing, we are responsible for summing the budget, figuring out food and everything,” said Shrestha. “And I think us, as two different student organizations, we organically came together, and it was very, very organized. I think it was one of my best experiences organizing.”

Adhikari said that the dance rehearsals started a week before Diwali and Tihar. Due to most of the dancers graduating, she said this year was really different because she was leading three different dances but also learning them at the same time. Typically, dance rehearsals have taken place two weeks in advance, but this didn’t deter any dancers. 

For many students, participating in Diwali and Tihar was a chance to not only see their culture represented but also a chance to feel at home. “It was the first time after coming here, I could see my culture being represented, and I could really feel my elements there,” said first-time performer Debasmita Goswami `29. “I felt really at home because of the function, and it felt really nice seeing people from other cultures and this country and from other communities coming and just joining our events, just made us all feel warm.”

Even students who don’t celebrate Diwali and Tihar back home found themselves immersed in the celebration. Arsal Shaikh `27 has participated in the celebration for all three years. While Diwali and Tihar is not celebrated in his home country, Pakistan, he has joined and continued to be a part of the festivities because of the community built.

Kaavya Shriram `28 strikes a precise pose while completing a classical South Indian dance during a dance collaboration with Saniya Desai `28, combining Shriram’s South Indian Culture with Desai’s North Indian culture. (Alissa Booth)

“I really enjoy Diwali Tihar at Grinnell, because we get to dance together as friends, that whole practicing and dancing and dressing up,” said Shaikh. “I really like that process. I would honestly say that the way that Diwali is celebrated here is very similar to weddings back home.”

Rahman had a similar experience, which he highlighted during his personal story presentation. He said that back home, none of his family nor friends celebrated Diwali, and so he didn’t have any experience with it before coming to Grinnell. He said that was funny, especially when thinking about India being an hour away from his country, and how it’s celebrated as one of the biggest events of the year there, like Christmas.

“Diwali wasn’t really a significant part of my life at all. In fact, I didn’t know when Diwali happened,” said Rahman. “But then after coming to Grinnell, it’s been the complete opposite. Diwali has been one of those events that ties me back to South Asia, that reminds me of home, even though we don’t celebrate it at home.”

Audience members climb onto the stage for the final dance, as performers invite everyone to join the celebration of light. (Alissa Booth)