By Hajin Yoo

news@kykernel.com

“Diwali Dhoom 2014” lit up the Memorial Hall stage Saturday evening with displays of classical and modern dances, invocations and art.

Annually hosted to celebrate India’s festival of lights, “Diwali Dhoom” combined stage performances and traditional cuisine to bring Indian culture to UK’s doorstep.

Rangoli – patterned Indian folk art – was projected in the hall as draped dancers spiraled to the distinct plucking of strings in Indian music.

Sai Yalla, the Creative Director of the Indian Student Association and a biology and political science sophomore, emceed in a white kurta while engaging the audience in preparation for each recital.

For Yalla, the event’s goal was to reach out to others through shared culture.

“It’s like Thanksgiving where the entire family gets together,” Yalla said. “We’re glad to celebrate it here seas away from our motherland … We want people to experience Indian culture and get to know us better.”

According to Ishan Kudale, the President of the Indian Student Association, “Diwali Dhoom 2014” was an endeavor in “trying to create diversity here so that others can enjoy it too.”

“It is to reach people,” the civil engineering junior said. “We want to interact with other cultures also.“

In the last three years, the numbers have risen, Kudale said. On Saturday night’s event, over 300 people of students and teachers attended.

During one of the performances, Complexity Fusion, a dance team, moved to Indian voices singing over Westernized pop beats while to claps and cheers from the audience urged them on.

One of the members of the Complexity Fusion duo, Shravan Govindaraj, a freshman studying Electrical Engineering, said that he practiced more than two hours a day for two weeks to make sure that everything would run smoothly. His love for dancing was also a way to connect to his home country. “Today’s been that day where … you’ve gone back to India and come back,” Govindaraj concluded.

After the performances, people were led to the Ralph G. Anderson building and served with marinated chicken tikka with rice and naan and paneer to celebrate in light company. The evening came to an end with the lively voices of students and families as napkins and bottled waters eventually ran out.

“This year we absolutely killed it. We had classical dances, Bollywood dances, Bollywood music and poem singing,” Yalla said.