Bollywood Club, Hindi National Honor Society and South Asian Student Association hosted their annual Diwali performance on Nov. 6. The show consisted of four dance performances, an audience-interactive pani puri eating contest and a fashion show exhibiting the cultural dress of Diwali.

The first performance of the show was a staged reading of the epic, “The Ramayana.” The epic is about Rama, a warrior prince who must reclaim his throne, which symbolizes good conquering evil. Freshman Ashwin Perumal played Hanuman and freshman Naina Mehra played Sita, Rama’s wife. In this scene, Sita gives Hanuman her wedding ring to show that she’s alive and thinking of Rama.

Freshman Veda Kaushik performs in the first dance of the show. Kaushik performed alongside sophomore Vaishali Raol and freshman Rima Kulkarni.

“I think the performance overall went well,” Kaushik said. “For classical, or bharatanatyam, we had been working on the dance for several weeks and holding long practices. This style is unique because it takes years to learn and master all skills that are needed in order to actually perform.”

Showcasing a traditional saree, senior Akshatha Perumal struts the stage in the fashion show. The show presented various kinds of cultural dress from Diwali, featuring every color from the color wheel. This included sarees, lehengas and kurtas. Each model walked downstage with a partner, Perumal’s being senior Jeevan Kaur.

Posing for the camera, juniors Rajan Vyas and Micah Love showcase their kurtas. Vyas is an officer for SASA and helped organize the event, and Love is in the Hindi program. Junior and SASA president Rohith Mehra also helped put the event together, which started in mid-September. “Personally, I worked on creating the organizational systems to pull the events together, as well as organizing volunteers and parts of the setup,” Mehra said. “The process was better put together than usual, as we started much earlier than previous years.”

Pre-AP world Geography teacher and National Honor Society sponsor Juanita Camarillo participated in the Diwali fashion show for a second time, wearing a saree. Multiple teachers participated in the fashion show along with students, including Pre-IB Spanish 2 teacher Micaela Segal, Algebra 2 teacher Conchita Bean and Algebra 2 and AP precalculus teacher Sandra Wallace.

Magnet coordinator Yabei Yin and counselor Jovanna David also exhibited their Diwali outfits on stage. Those who celebrate Diwali are open to other cultures participating in the celebration, as Diwali is based upon universal themes like good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

Mehra mentioned how he gets to share this celebration with people from his school and “bring some of the light Diwali represents to the hearts and minds of Bellaire.”

“My favorite aspect of Diwali is the sense of togetherness and love it generates,” Mehra said. “I celebrate Diwali as a religious holiday and it provides the opportunity for me to be with my extended family, sharing something special.”

AP Physics C, IB Astronomy and Independent Study Math teacher Reena Chopra and Bollywood Club sponsor, HNHS sponsor, SASA sponsor and Hindi teacher Vibha Goswami were the last pair to walk the runway. They showcased their bright sarees as the audience applauded for the fashion show a final time.

Between each performance, emcees and juniors Aayush Khadse and Aashrith Korampally cracked jokes and entertained the audience. This gave the next act time to prepare and kept the audience engaged. Mehra said that “everyone began working on details, such as planning our use of space, timing, and making programs and decorations” as the event came closer.

“The day of the event was a little chaotic but there were no last minute surprises or problems that arose,” Mehra said.

Korampally took to the crowd and interacted with those seated in the audience.

“What’s your favorite type of Indian food?” Korampally asked. The crowd responded with popular dishes like butter chicken and biryani to name a few.

Korampally and Khadse travelled throughout the first floor of the auditorium, allowing for the Bollywood performance to prepare for the stage.

“Bollywood is all about energy, emotion, and expressions bigger than your mom’s reaction when you say you got a “B” in math,” Korampally said, before introducing the Bollywood dance to the stage.

Sophomore and Bollywood Club choreographer Aarya Joshi introduced the Current Laga Re dance, a Bollywood-style dance. Joshi taught the dance to about 30 club members over a six-week period.

Junior and Bollywood Club choreographer Elizabeth Gamero also danced in the Current Laga Re dance. Gamero was seen in the fusion dance and the Garba dance as well.

Kaushik participated in many of the dance acts, even though it was her first time performing in the Diwali show.

“For the other dances, practices were super fun because everyone enjoys dancing together and celebrating our culture,” Kaushik said. “One thing that was difficult was navigating formation changes since there were so many people on each dance.”

Along with this dance, sophomore and Bollywood Club choreographer Maahi Vaswani performed in the fusion dance. The Bollywood-style dance was a medley of different songs put together.

Members of the varsity guitar class, sophomore Lily Goodwin, freshman Ved Agrawal, junior Shiraz Alapat and Mehra played a piece entitled “Tum Hi Ho.” The performance contrasted the other acts in the show with its calm collection of chords and flowy movements.

Mixing traditional Bollywood dance with modern hip-hop, the next group dance was entitled “Make Some Noise for the Desi Boyz.” Vaswani and Gamero, as members of the eMotion dance team, choreographed this piece.

Social worker Stephanie Aguilar learned Bollywood dance moves to perform in the teacher dance. Titled “What Jhumka?”, the teacher dance consisted of 10 members of staff.

Vaswani, Kaushik and junior Juliette Tannoux-Rondon performed in the garba dance, the finale of the event. Vaswani helped choreograph the folk-style dance. Performers used dandiya, colored sticks, that are typically used in village-settings when playing garba.

Senior Aiden Gross participated in the pani puri eating contest, winning second place. Contestants had to fill the puri with the pani and eat each ball one by one. With ten spots to fill, Khadse and Korampally took to the crowd to ask for willing volunteers. First place winner junior Raya Jogi won a $30 Amazon gift card, Gross was rewarded with a $20 Amazon gift card and third place winner senior Keith Luo won a $10 Amazon gift card.

After every Diwali show, guests can get a taste of Diwali foods.

“I loved the paneer because I love cheese in general, and also the paneer was well seasoned,” Kaushik said.

Many students celebrate Diwali, and the show brings a bit of that celebration to the school.

“My favorite thing about Diwali is celebrating with my community,” Kaushik said. “Going to Diwali parties is really fun because they always have good food, and I get to hangout with my friends and family while celebrating my culture.”

After the show, Mehra and the officers of all of the clubs who helped organize the event reflected on what went well.

“We had a relatively smooth backstage, only minimal issues with talking and making sure people were lined up,” Mehra said. “The food service was less chaotic since we moved the line further back and sold tickets at the doors.”

However, the collection of clubs who organized the event may change things up next year.

“For next year’s event we are considering charging a price for admission or not serving dinner afterwards,” Mehra said. “Beyond that, we want to try and incorporate more audience suggestions and more performances showcasing traditional culture around Diwali.”