Bright-colored dresses filled Lovinger 2600 on Friday night to celebrate the Garba Festival hosted by the Indian Student Organization.
The Garba Festival is a traditional Indian festival that involves dancing with two sticks called dandiya sticks.
Ghagra choli is the traditional Indian clothing the women wore to the Indian festival.
“I loved how the Indian girls wore the traditional dress,” said Ashwanth Pendyala, a graduate student studying computer science. “No one at UCM wears the traditional Indian dress, so it was nice to see everyone come together and wear that outfit. I really wish to see more people dress in the traditional attire because it is very popular in the Indian culture.”
Pendyala said the dance was amazing.
“Watching everyone dance to the Garba dance is cool because it’s tradition,” Pendyala said. “Bringing our culture together to dance at UCM is something special.”
Pendyala is involved with the International Student Organization and said anyone is welcome to attend their events.
“Everyone should come because it’s really fun,” he said. “Everyone comes to dance and meet more international students. We can make it an even bigger turnout than this time.”
Pendyala said he plans to promote the Indian festival by advertising more.
“Everyone would like to meet new people and everyone likes to dance,” he said. “My goal is to advertise more and to put more flyers out to make sure everyone knows that they are invited.”
Venkata Kamatham, a graduate student studying computer science, studied computer science at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in India. She said the Garba Festival helps bring people of all backgrounds together.
“This event is so fun and we can all exchange our cultures,” Kamatham said. “This way we can know more about other cultures and others can know more about our culture.”
Not only does Kamatham want to know more about other cultures, but she came to the Indian festival to better her knowledge of her own culture.
“We all love coming to these events and meeting knew international students and learning more about our own culture and where people come from,” Kamatham said.
During the Indian festival, the students played musical chairs.
“My favorite part was playing musical chairs,” Kamatham said. “It was so fun seeing everyone play and seeing everyone laugh.”
Kamatham said her advice for students who are undecided about coming to the Indian Student Organization events is to communicate with other cultures.
“There is nothing to be scared of,” she said. “Knowing more about other countries or states gives you an opportunity to easily mingle with people to better yourself in the future.”
Kamatham said she would love to give more women the opportunity to wear the traditional Indian dress, Gagra choli, at Indian student organization events. She said the dress is beautiful and it looks good on everyone.
Deepika Polampally, a graduate student studying computer science, is the president of the Indian Student Organization. She studied computer science at G. Narayanamma Institute of Technology and Science in India.
“This is the second event I have hosted as president and it is nice to get all the Indians together and celebrating different festivals,” Polampally said.
Polampally said the purpose of the Garba Festival was to share joy for their culture.
“I wanted all the students to get together and celebrate it very happily,” she said. “Seeing everyone happy and seeing a smile on everyone’s faces was the best part.”
Polampally showed happiness for the Indian community at UCM.
“Indians are very far from American so it is not tough to get all the Indians together because everyone wants a home-like feeling. I am really happy to have a community like that,” Polampally said.
