There were very few students in ASB (since most of the students went home or some other places) during Diwali. We decided to celebrate it with every one present in the campus. Accordingly we planned for ‘Aarti’ in the evening, sweet distribution, bursting crackers and Dinner at Canteen. We had to drop the idea of dinner at Canteen as there were very less people available in mess. We were initially not very sure if we could celebrate Diwali here, but Dr. Balasubramanium (we call him Bala Sir) came to rescue us. Maam, i.e., Bala Sir’s wife fixed the menu according to our choice (Paneer kofta, sweets, Payesam, parotha, chowmin etc. i.e. not typical South Indian food) for lunch and dinner. We got all the ‘Puja Samagri’ from their house. We collected some money from whoever was there, both first year and second year. Everybody contributed.
In the morning we went to Coimbatore and bought sweets. Girls made a beautiful ‘arti’ as Nilesh had drawn a beautiful flower on the floor. We had invited The Vice Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa vidya peetham and all the faculties and all other employees present in the campus. In the evening the whole ASB was enlightened by the candles and our friend Hardik decided that he would do ‘Sri Sri Ganesh Puja’. Puja started at 6:00 pm in the presence of everyone. Hardik’s puja was highly appreciated by everyone and especially the VC mentioned that he had liked it very much. The presence of Mr. Sudhakar Jayram, CEO, Amrita T.V. with his family also graced the occasion. The V.C was highly delighted and also brought sweets for us. After that, we went to the ground for bursting crackers. It was great fun. Again at 7:30 p.m. there was ‘Arti’ in ASE building and sweet distribution. Then our friends went to light the lamp in our loving Professors Shobhana madam’s and Deepak Sir’s house. They again had sweets and some music. Some of us had to come to ASB to take care of the things there. In all the activities, our student body president Lambert Lopez has helped us extensively. Without Bala Sir’s and his wife’s’s help it was not all possible to celebrate the Diwali in such a beautiful manner.
On the eve before Diwali, we actually thought that we would not be able to celebrate diwali here, as very less number of students was available and we had a feeling that, in South India Diwali is not celebrated in a great manner. But every presumption went wrong when in the evening we found a huge crowd bursting crackers on the ground and also doing ‘Arti’. When someone has a kind of prejudice against something and it proves to be wrong and becomes a very pleasant memory, it turns out to be one of the happiest memories of life. The experience of Diwali celebration at ASB was exactly like that.
Bikash Shil
MBA 2007 batch
|
