People gathered Saturday to celebrate a tradition known as Holi, a two-day Indian festival and national Indian holiday that is celebrated in March. The Ohio University Indian Student Association organized a show at Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Alumni Auditorium followed by a dinner at Baker University Center Ballroom to commemorate the event.
During Holi
people of all levels of society throw (the) caste system away and become friends said Andy Snow, guest speaker at the celebration. Snow, associate director and associate professor of OU's J. Warren McClure School of Information and Telecommunication Systems, said in his speech that Holi is a season for practical jokes because it is a time when people are not easily offended.
People in India usually celebrate Holi, also known as the festival of colors together on the streets during the day by putting colored powder on one another to signify the population coming together. Families then have gatherings for a big dinner in the evening, said Sishtla Atheeth, president of Indian Student Association.
OU students and Athens residents filled the auditorium to watch dances, a slide show, a fashion show and skits performed by ISA members. The slide show particularly showed the different cultures of various regions in India.
Atheeth said the event is much larger this year because it was held in the auditorium and the new Baker Center.
Prafullla Rajput, a performer in the show and OU graduate student, was in a love-story skit that depicted the typical lives of teenagers in India. He also performed in last year's Holi Festival. Performers in the skit practiced for only five days, and he was very happy with how the performances turned out, Rajput said.
After the performance, the audience went to the Baker Ballroom for dinner catered by Sher-E-Punjab, an Indian restaurant in Columbus. The restaurant owner, Ram Sabarwal, said he had worked out the menu with students to cook dishes that would taste authentic enough for Indians and not too spicy for people who were not used to the taste of Indian food.
Elizabeth Linn, a 13-year-old Athens resident, attended the event with her mother. The two traveled to India for two weeks at the beginning of this year. This was Elizabeth's first time to attend an Indian event in Athens. She said the event brought back memories of India and made her miss it.
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For the final act of the Holi celebration held Saturday at the Memorial Auditorium, Sonia Bandha captivates the crowd with a traditional Indian dance.
