Nearly 500 people celebrated with the Students of the Indian Subcontinent on Friday night in the group’s fifth-annual Utsav celebration.
As many as 100 people came from the Portland area alone to participate in Utsav, which means “festival” in Sanskrit, SIS co-Director Edwin Prasad said. Prasad added that Friday’s celebration does not coincide with any Indian holiday.
Dancer and SIS member Gibran AzamAli said the event was simply an opportunity to promote Indian culture locally.
Utsav is the second-largest cultural celebration at the University, trailing only behind International Night festivities, said Prasad, who organized the event.
The celebration started at 5:30 p.m. with a traditional Indian dinner, followed by a skit, some traditional and not-so-traditional dances and a fashion show in the EMU Ballroom.
Prasad said there are many reasons why crowds of people throng to the celebration every year. First, he said Indians in Eugene find it a good opportunity to congregate, meet and reconnect with others in their culture. Second, there seems to be a widespread fascination with Indian culture, he said.
“The show and the glitter of Indian culture appeals to a lot (of people),” he said.
AzamAli, who has participated in the event for the past four years, said people come because the taste of Indian culture showcased by the event is completely different from anything else in Eugene. He also said the skit segment offers insight into the way Indians view the world.
He offered a third explanation for the hearty turnout: the food.
“I think the first thing is the food,” he said. “I’ve seen people just stay for the food and leave for the show.”
Some of the dishes served were a curry cheese dish called Shahi Paneer, a lentil soup called Daal Makhni, Chicken Korma and Naan bread.
One of the stars of Friday night’s show was 4-year-old Priyanka Manda, who danced the Dayya Dayya and drew cheers and a roaring applause from the crowd.
Manda, who taught herself the dance in four days, said she wanted to dance “(because) I’m a small kid and everybody will be impressed at me.”
She added that her favorite part of dancing is running around and spinning.
Throwing some spontaneity into this year’s celebration, event organizers and volunteers celebrated event emcee Joy Nair’s 23rd birthday by surprising her with an announcement, song and cake. The crowd joined in singing “Happy Birthday” to her.
Also throwing a curve into the evening’s lineup, performers danced to “It’s the time to Disco.” Prasad wowed the audience when he soared off the main stage onto the front stage and continued dancing classic disco moves.