South Asian Student Association (SASA) and Bellaire International Student Association (BISA) discussed Diwali in Room 2728 on Oct. 16. Over 25 students decorated diyas while eating samosas and laddus.
Junior and Co-President Rajan Vyas has been in SASA for three years. Vyas was a member of SASA last year, and became a co-president this year.
“Last year, our club wasn’t doing very well,” Vyas said. “We didn’t have very many meetings or members. We are trying to fix the lack of members last year by promoting our meetings more through word of mouth [in] the Hindi classes and through Instagram.”
SASA participates in three main events every year: Diwali, Holika and the BISA Festival, known as BISA Fest. The meeting was SASA’s third club meeting of the year.
“[I’m excited for] our yearly Diwali event,” Vyas said. “We’re hoping to make it our best this year because a lot of our officers were seniors last year and graduated.”
The Bellaire Diwali Festival will feature a variety of dances, including Garba, classical and a Hip Hop-Bollywood fusion dance. Performers will also reenact the events of the Ramayana, and students will compete in a Panipuri eating contest.
BISA Co-President of Spring Events and senior Akshatha Perumal said that BISA was founded over 15 years ago when the school’s magnet program was first introduced.
“I was so excited [to see such a big turnout] because I believe that Diwali is about sharing and celebrating,” Perumal said. “I hope [new members] understand the unique diversity of Bellaire. Bellaire is celebrating our nine magnet languages, and I feel like BISA is really beneficial to underclassmen for understanding how many clubs, cultures and events there are in Bellaire.”
Sophomore Kayla Zhou said she thought the collaboration was “really cool” and enjoyed the meeting.
“I didn’t know what Diwali was before the meeting, and the officers gave out really good information,” Zhou said. “I liked the samosas, and I think it’s really cool that [the clubs] managed to incorporate culture into the meeting, and that they made really good food.”
The Bellaire Diwali Festival will be on Nov. 6.
For more information on BISA, follow its Instagram @bisaclub. To stay up to date with SASA, follow its Instagram @sasa_bellaire.
