Students celebrate Indian culture at Teter

Students screamed, ran and hid -- but they couldn't escape the color. It was purple, green, yellow and orange, and it was everywhere. \nAbout 100 people from the Indian Student Association came together in Teter Quad's south courtyard Friday night to celebrate Holi, an Indian holiday rooted in Hindu tradition, that recognizes the start of spring and beginning of the harvest. \n"We're celebrating Indian culture," said Arun Bhattacharyya, a senior finance and marketing major, and the ISA's vice president. "It's just a fun and joyous occasion." \nThe event kicked off at about 5:30 p.m. and included food and drinks. \nBut participants ate quickly and soon grabbed cups filled with colored powder, taking handfuls of it and throwing it on each other. \n"I look like a rainbow," said Vani Joshi, a sophomore biology major, who had orange hair, green on her face, and purple on her shoulders by the time the event was finished. \n"It's like in your ears, in your eyes," said Rishi Patel, a junior finance and accounting major, who said the challenge comes in removing the color. "(You) take a shower, keep washing, then you rinse, then you repeat over and over again." \nMost students said they didn't mind the mess since it gave them a chance to reconnect with India's culture. \n"I grew up in a place where there weren't too many Indians and to celebrate this with this many Indians is rare," said Anand Shah, a biochemistry and Indian studies major from Indianapolis. "I think it brings out the kids in us." \nThe holiday has become more secular recently and is celebrated throughout the streets of India as one of the country's biggest holidays, said Karan Chaudhri, the ISA's president. \nHe said today, throwing color is sometimes a form of flirtation between some people.\n"If you have a lot of color, it's kind of a good luck thing," he said. \nAt the ISA's event, 50 pounds of colored powder -- costing $200 -- were used up in about 45 minutes. Some participants then grabbed trays of food and soft drinks and began flinging them at their friends. \nThe evening was sponsored through funds from the IUSA's Commitment to Assist Student Initiatives program, Chaudhri said, although he did not have exact figures available. \n"The ISA is one of the largest and most active cultural organizations on campus and they know that," he said. "I think they probably just wanted to reward diversity and broaden people's horizons by giving people the opportunity to attend events." \nAkshay Kumar, a senior finance and accounting major, said for him, coming to Holi was just a way to remember his background, even in Indiana. \n"This function has been a tradition in India for a long time -- we just decided to bring together that same feeling, that same atmosphere," he said. "Even though you're in college, you can still remember home"