Annual event showcases India’s culture
Though many UM students will never visit India, they have a chance to experience what the Asian region is really like during India Nite.
About 500 people showed up at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts on April 5 to enjoy the annual India Association event, which included dance performances, a fashion show and catered buffet, and has taken place on campus since 2001.
Event-goers were treated to such traditional Indian dances as Bhangra from the state of Punjab and such traditional food as chicken tikka masala and navratan kurma, a dish of gravy made of cashew nuts with vegetables and Indian spices.
“What we try to do at this event is to give a glimpse of India to the people here,” says Harsha Vinnakota, president of the India Association, Ph.D. candidate in pharmaceutics and a native of Hyderabad, India. “We try to showcase all the different cultures. (India has 28 states and seven union territories.) Each has its own food, and the dance forms are different.”
Besides hosting India Nite, the India Association, with more than 100 members, holds a dance party for new and returning students, and celebrates Diwali (Festival of Lights) and India’s Independence Day. The organization also arranges to pick up new students from India at the Memphis airport and helps find accommodations for them until they can find housing of their own.
For more information about the India Association, go to www.olemiss.edu/orgs/ia/ia.html.
