Moment: July 8th, 2019 at 1:32 PM IST
"You see the moon, you see the beauty of God.
You see the sun, you see the power of God.
You see your reflection, you see the love of God.
You see people, you see the creativity of God."
America is often described as a “melting pot” of cultures from all over the world fusing together, and especially in a city like Austin, it’s easy to see the diversity right in front of your eyes. It is a country full of people from different countries, ethnic backgrounds, and religions all coexisting, and it is a beautiful thing. We get a little taste of that at our International Hostel, with people from all over Europe and the US (pictured above).
Last week, I read an article that stated that Telugu is the fastest growing language in the United States of America. As a Telugu speaker who almost always has to follow up with the phrase “it’s a language from South India,” I was absolutely astounded that Telugu was so prevalent in the US. Similar to how my parents moved to America from India almost 22 years ago, many people from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the two Telugu-speaking states, are moving to the US.
America is a nation mostly comprised of immigrants, so comparatively, India tends to be perceived as a fairly culturally homogeneous country, but with seven racial groups represented in its population and over 1500 languages and dialects spoken (Telugu is the second-most widely spoken language after Hindi!), it is a country whose diversity is right on par with that of America. Hyderabad Central University is a highly-ranked, federally-funded university, so HCU students hail from all over India and bring their cultures with them. The university embraces and celebrates this diversity through various events throughout the year, one of them being Ethnic Day.
Everyone dresses up in their traditional festive wear, and there are performances that showcase the best of what everyone's cultures have to offer. There was a guy from Telangana who did spot-on impressions of dozens of well-known Telugu actors, a group that performed a dance that originated in Andhra Pradesh called Kuchipudi, and the cutest group of girls who hit the stage for the first time EVER to dance Bharatanatyam.
But it didn't just end there. There were English-Hindi mashup songs, an Indian drum line that could put any cheer squad to shame, a guy sang an original song and people cheered after every. single. line. At one point, Salma and I even went on stage and joined a huge dance circle! At the end, there was a huge catwalk of people who wore traditional outfits representing their own state or region in India.
Afterwards, they served a traditional South Indian meal, complete with banana leaves and servers walking around with metal buckets of dal and rice. Hundreds of people gathered under the tents and essentially played musical chairs with the seats at the tables, sharing sweets and passing food up and down the rows. It was like a huge family dinner, and overall the whole show and dinner was a beautiful showcase of the diversity and solidarity of this campus and this country.
