“Diwali is the festival of lights and has both religious and cultural significance,” said Anisha Gupta ‘22. “It marks the triumphs of good over evil and light over darkness.”
Gupta introduced the Diwali celebration, held on Nov. 5. She is the president of Top Naach, Muhlenberg’s first South Asian/Bollywood dance group. The group was founded in 2015, and “is an organization that celebrates cultures across South Asia.”
Sruti Sailam ‘23, public relations chair and choreographer for Top Naach further elaborated on Diwali’s meeting saying, “This is a time to let go of old grudges, angers and judgements, making room for compassion, forgiveness and love.”
At the event, every seat in the Event Space of Seegers Union filled with excited audience members, and rows of standing onlookers squeezed into the back of the room. Attendees enjoyed samosas, gobi, gulab jamun, paneer and mango lassi. They could also participate in diya painting and henna.
A series of performances included the Perkulators dance team as an opening act, followed by InAcchord a cappella, the MINT hip hop team and the Copacetic Rhythms tap group. The final performance was from Top Naach.
Raivat Shah ‘23, Top Naach vice president and choreographer, shared that, “Our planning for Diwali required balancing various administrative elements simultaneously. Aside from developing our own dance choreography and conducting weekly practices, we had to work alongside Sodexo to provide catering, work with [media services]for performance-day technicalities and coordinate with other student organizations on campus to assess whether they’d be willing to perform during our event.”
Shivani Iyer ‘23, Top Naach treasurer added, “Planning the event would not have been possible without the endless support and teamwork and effort from my fellow exec members and the committee leaders.”
Top Naach performed four dances to the songs: Shubharambh, Jalebi Baby, Drama Queen/Confidence and Proper Patola/Taki Taki. These songs all had different tones and meanings, with Shubharambh implying “a happy, blessed and suspicious beginning,” and being the first song Top Naach performed. Drama Queen/Confidence “symbolizes the importance of accepting oneself and projecting confidence in everything we do,” according to the program.
“This is a time to let go of old grudges, angers and judgements, making room for compassion, forgiveness and love.”
-Sruti Sailam ’23
Shah and Iyer both shared the importance of celebrating Diwali here at ‘Berg. “We believe celebrating Diwali at Muhlenberg goes a long way in extending cross-cultural conversations to populations that may not have previously been exposed to the implications of Diwali and what it means to those who celebrate it,” said Shah.
Iyer added, “It is so meaningful to be able to celebrate Diwali here on campus because it personally allows me to feel connected to a piece of home and my family who taught me the traditions and meaning behind Diwali. I think it is also so important to have this celebration so that more people can expand their own knowledge, awareness and appreciation towards different cultures. It’s really special to be able to showcase South Asian culture (even in a small way) with the rest of the Muhlenberg community.”
“It is so meaningful to be able to celebrate Diwali here on campus because it personally allows me to feel connected to a piece of home and my family who taught me the traditions and meaning behind Diwali.”
-Shivani Iyer ’23
Top Naach is looking forward to the spring for their next event, the festival of Holi. Iyer shares that, “Holi is the festival of color, commonly practiced across South Asian countries. I am very excited to build on the momentum of our Diwali celebration and put on an even greater event in the spring.”
Gupta shared, “It is so special to have had so many members of the Muhlenberg community come out and celebrate Diwali with Top Naach. We are so thankful to the dance and a capella groups who performed, Sodexo who provided amazing Indian appetizers, the Office of Multicultural Life and [Student Organizations, Leadership and Engagement (S.O.L.E.)] who facilitated the logistics of the event. After almost two years apart, the event was an amazing way to get the community together again to celebrate with the important people in our lives. Top Naach is immensely grateful to the people who came with such open hearts to celebrate the holiday with us.”
