By Aadhya Ramineni ’19, Contributor
Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is one of the most celebrated Hindu festivals. People across the world light candles and diyas on Diwali to symbolize the presence of virtue even in times of darkness and to celebrate that good will always win against evil.
The Country Day community came together to celebrate our first ever Diwali celebration as a school on Thursday November 3rd. Approximately 400 people attended the event, which was planned by parents, students and faculty. From the graceful, classical Indian dance performances to the delicious food, the celebration was lively and captured the essence of Diwali perfectly.
The event began in Keeler where Head of School Tony Jaccaci gave a speech and lit a Diya to start off the program. Then the mic was handed over to freshman MCs Manav Patel and Jay Bhati who introduced the performances. First up were a group of Lower School students who performed an adorable and informative skit about the story of Diwali. The story was directed and narrated by Sachi Bhati ’18. Next, we enjoyed watching some amazing solo dance performances. Gauri Midha ’21 danced to a famous Bollywood song and Bijn Basu ’22 performed a wonderful dance that was a fusion of Kathak (classical dance style) and Bollywood. There was also a stunning Bharatanatyam (classical dance style) performance by second grader Sashti Subramaniam. The range of styles and different age groups involved in the performances made the celebration feel very festive.
After the performances, everyone went to the dining terrace for dinner as well as to see all the different stalls that students and parents were running, which included a saree-tying station and a henna station. You could tell the event was planned in a fastidious manner from looking around at the decorations. The spirit shack was transformed into what looked like an Indian saree store with beautiful pieces of traditional Indian apparel. To the left of the spirit shack was a colorful rangoli design (shown below) decorated with flowers and diyas. It was magnificent to see everyone dresses in gorgeous Indian clothing. Looking around it felt like being in India for Diwali. In addition, the delightful food from New Krishna convinced me that we were in fact in India. After having dinner we were directed outside to the amphitheater (without knowing what we were going to do there.) The celebration had the best saved for last and ended with a surprise—firecrackers!
The Diwali Celebration was so well-planned and that is because of all the students, parents and faculty who worked hard till the end. Being able to celebrate Diwali with so many brilliant people was the highlight of the celebration. I look forward to next year’s celebration as I know that this was just the first celebration of a new Country Day tradition.
