We caught up with Akriti and Harsha from the Indian Students Society, to find out about what they have done so far this year, as well as their plans for Holi celebrations on 4th March. Scroll down to see what they have to say and photos from their events so far:
Do you want to give a little bit of an overview of just what the society is and what you've done so far this academic year?
Akriti: Okay, so basically the Indian society brings out the Indian culture. And it’s not just about Indian students. We are all students here together. The last event that we planned was our January Freshers Party. We wanted everyone to be there and actually a lot of people showed up, from many different nationalities! For our March Holi event, all students are invited. It's not just for Indian students
Harsha: We want everyone from other cultures to get involved to see what exactly is Indian culture
It’s been great over the last few years that we’ve had so many more events like this. It’s students who are running our events, doing what is important to them and bringing different people together. Most of our student societies form off the back of people who have had some involvement or attended events for a different society. What’s been your favourite thing about the events your society has done so far?
Akriti: That's a good question. We get to meet a lot of new people. Last time we cooked food ourselves and they really loved it. They really enjoyed it!
I enjoyed it!
Harsha: We didn't enjoy doing the cooking, but seeing everyone enjoy it, that was nice. The food was nice, the party was nice, and we get to meet so many new people, get to know each other. Yeah, I think that’s what we love
What difference do you think that's made to your uni experience?
Akriti: I'm happy. We get to meet as many people as possible and get to know each other
Harsha: We get to interact with a lot of people, like seeing people from different countries, and that's actually one of the major reasons why I chose the UK, because there’s people from all around the world here in one place. It's nice. I have close friends from Mexico and Nigeria. For the event, they were able to try our food and especially our dancing and music, which they really enjoyed
What's been the biggest challenge with running your events?
Akriti: The cooking!
Harsha: Figuring out the budget. We don't even know for sure how many people will show up so we need to try and figure that out
Akriti: Last time because we cooked for around 100 people and actually 100 people showed up. So that was lucky! But it's an experience. We liked it, we enjoyed it
Harsha: And I’m studying Events Management so it’s good that I enjoy it!
Is there anything that the Students’ Union could do better to help you with those things?
Akriti: Budget is a problem but honestly, we did figure it out
Harsha: It's actually a very good budget. You just need to figure out how you're going to use it
Akriti: Yeah, exactly. And that was why we decided to cook, so we could have what we wanted and enough for everyone. Like the Nigerian and Ghanaian Societies, every single time they celebrate they cook. All of them cook. So we were like, why don't we do something similar?
What’s do you think is the most important benefit of being part of your society?
Akriti: Oh, people getting to know our culture. Each part of India has very different music
Harsha: Many people from the north and south have not heard each other’s music, so it’s nice to share other cultures
So what are your plans for Holi?
Akriti: Chicken biryani! And lassi!
Harsha: It's a festival of colour so we’re thinking of getting like neon paint or makeup, or something like that, neon theme to add colour. It'll be vibrant and bright
As a final thought, why should students join your society or come to your Holi celebration?
Akriti: You’ll get to eat some Indian food. Then you'll get to dance to Indian music!
The Festival of Colour isn’t like anything people do in the UK. So it’s something different but also very important to us
People should definitely join. We are happy to welcome every single person
Yep. When we say a Students’ Union party, this is exactly what we mean. And these things don't happen with without the likes of yourselves doing it, so thank you!
