OASIS- The Indian Organization

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate November 2001

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OASIS OASIS is an Indian organization which hosts both traditional and modern events. Events that have already been hosted on campus are Dandiya, Diwali, and a welcoming party for all students. These events bring all the Indians on campus together.

On November 3rd of this year, I went to an OASIS party which was held outside campus somewhere in downtown. This party was a Diwali party for all Indians located within Rochester. Diwali is a festival which is celebrated for the return of Lord Ram after his fourteen years of exile from the jungle. Actually, the name of the festival is Deepawali, but in India, throughout the years, it has been shortened to Diwali. When Lord Ram came back to Ayodhya (his ancestral kingdom), all the streets were filled with lights and firecrackers and everybody was dancing and distributing sweets. Deep in Hindi means lights. That is where Deewali originated from.

The OASIS organization decided on hosting the party ahead of time probably because the real date (November 14th) was too close to the exam period. All of us were wearing traditional Indian dresses called Kurtas and Pajamas.

Once I was there, music was being played (a mix of both traditional and modern selections of Indian music) and people were dancing, sitting, getting drinks and some were just looking around blindly. Everybody was just looking handsome and beautiful (especially some of the girls J) and just having a wonderful time. I took a seat with my friends while taking some of the snacks being offered to us. There were around 500 people at the party and you couldn't even see any spot on the dance floor since there were so many of them dancing. The food was served very shortly and there was a VERY big selection of all types of Indian foods. That was probably the most happiest time in Rochester seeing so much good Indian food which I was missing since Singapore. Throughout the whole party, there were students singing throughout Rochester. A couple students from our school were part of the singing crew. After dinner, there were light desserts being served. Once everybody was finished with their food, everybody was on the dance floor have a great time. All my friends were also on the floor since we did make a circle for ourselves. After the dancing and fun, firecrackers were lit up outside the building and everybody had sparks of firecrackers lit. It was a lot of fun, especially the sounds of the firecrackers. All the Americans were looking at us while passing by as if we were some kind of lunatics. Once the firecrackers were over, it was already one in the morning and it was time to go. The party officially ends at two, but the host said that for those that want to stay can still dance and for those that would like to leave can leave. Everybody started leaving except for those that were not tired. My friends and I left because we needed to get the shuttle back to RIT and we were getting tired. We all came back to RIT and spoke for a bit, then slept.