With traditional East Indian singing and dancing, the Cotillion Ballroom in the Union seemed more like Bombay than Baton Rouge on Sunday night.
“Sangam 2004,” the Indian Student Association’s Spring Banquet, featured traditional food, drink and entrainment for the Baton Rouge East Indian community.
“Here [Sangam] would mean a fusion of American and Indian culture,” said Vikram Anil Rao, president of the ISA. “This is our biggest cultural event of the year.”
Rao said this fusion is especially important because the ISA’s most important function is to help assimilate new Indian students to campus life.
“The first thing they look for is the ISA,” Rao said. “We make them feel at home.”
Sangam seemed to accomplish this as many audience members dressed in East Indian clothing and attendees often spoke the Hindi language at the banquet.
It also incorporated many aspects of campus life — especially in a skit showing the plight of a newly-arrived Indian student. The skit depicted the new student participating in many common activities, such as arriving at the airport and looking for a job as a student worker.
The banquet culminated with a fashion show featuring many styles of Indian clothing. At the end of the fashion show, the participants unveiled a large Indian flag across the ballroom stage — inciting a very emotional response from both the crowd and the on-stage participants.
Overall, the ISA Executive Committee said the banquet was a huge success.
“It was a job well done — the effort really showed,” said Ruchi Kumar, ISA’s public relations officer. “We had a really popular response.”
While the audience of about 450 was predominantly of Indian descent, the entertainment portion of the program included diverse segments. Some intended to educate the audience about Indian culture, while others incorporated American culture. One performance combined Indian and American pop music and dance.
Kumar said that while the ISA is a volunteer organization meant to serve the Indian student population, it also is an all-inclusive organization.
“It’s for Americans and Indians,” she said.