Indian and Indian-American students and faculty enjoyed food, entertainment and society at Vihaan Saturday during an event hosted by Mississippi State University’s India Student Association.
Vihaan, one of three major events the ISA puts on each year at MSU, is a sort of welcoming party for new Indian students, ISA public relations head Vandana Chaturvedi said.
“Vihaan means ‘a new beginning,’ and we want the new students to have a good beginning. We welcome all the new students from India as well as Indian-American students and family,” Chaturvedi said.
“We have a celebration each fall and spring to welcome new members, and we have a celebration for Diwali later in the fall,” she added.
Students, faculty and family arrived wearing anything from jeans and a T-shirt to cultural Indian attire.
The event was catered by MSU Dining Services and Tuscaloosa-based Maharaj of India. Several native Indian dishes were served, reminding many of home, biological sciences graduate student Girish Jamnekar said.
“What many of us miss most from India is family and food. We try to provide a taste of home for our members and guests. We cannot give them home, but we can help them remember,” Jamnekar said. “Most of the time we are not able to eat Indian food in Starkville. The closest Indian restaurant is in Tuscaloosa, and many students either don’t know how to cook well or don’t have the supplies.”
Food was not the only cultural treat offered at Vihaan. Several musical performances, a few dance routines and theatrical performances, including a religious history play acted out by children, also took place. These events were broken up by comical emcees.
Vijaya Krishnan also spoke during the event. Krishnan, a mathematics graduate student, holds records in mathematical calculations. He spoke on his education and accomplishments overseas and then explained one of his records in which he calculated the 2,619th root of a 6,000-digit number in 6 seconds.
The purpose of the ISA is to comfort and help Indian students far away from home, ISA faculty advisor Anijo Mathew said.
“ISA takes care of Indian Students new to America and provides a link to India for Indian-American Students,” Mathew told the audience. “We are the face of India to MSU and the U.S.”
The ISA represents roughly 150 members, including 100 students and 50 family members. Each year 50 to 60 new Indian students join, Chaturvedi said.
“Our organization wants to be part of the ‘give back to MSU’ movement,” she said.