Indian fraternity hosts dinner, dance

Girls in colorful salvar kamises - traditional Indian dresses - danced around the Michigan Union Ballroom on Friday night, while others danced the Raas, a traditional Indian dance using sticks. All of the festivities were meant to bring students from various minority groups together.

The dance followed a dinner in the Kuenzel Room of the Union that was hosted by a new Indian fraternity on campus, Alpha Iota Omicron.

"We wanted to introduce our fraternity to the campus at large, and tell everyone about our goals and visions.

"We also wanted to hold a forum for the many minority organizations on campus to get to know each other," he said.

Event organizers invited two representatives from each minority organization on campus, and altogether nearly 55 students attended, representing about 28 organizations.

Ravi Maddipati, an Engineering junior and AIO external social chair, said the dinner was a chance for people to meet each other.

"We often disassociate into our own cliques as minorities, and we forget about all that we can learn from each other.

However, by uniting, we can all begin to solve problems," Maddipati said.

Kulkarni echoed Maddipati's sentiments by saying that everyone gains by getting to each other.

AIO also introduced its charity organization, ASHA, at the dinner. Asha, an Indian word that translates as hope, is a non-profit organization working to provide education to poor children in India.

Sathyan Subbiah, a member of the ASHA chapter based in Detroit, said India has one of the largest illiteracy rates in the world, and ASHA raises money to fund initiatives to increase the number of literate people.

After the speeches, students ate their choice of either Palak Paneer, a spinach and cheese dish, or Gobi Matar, cauliflower with cheese and tomatoes in curry sauce.

"Anything that promotes diversity and breaks

the lines of ethnic division is good," said Black Greek Association President Marcus Collins, an Engineering junior .

Kulkarni agreed that the dinner went as well as he had hoped.

"I was ecstatic about the way things went. We promoted Indian culture, and talked about different issues. People were also taking down phone numbers and e-mail addresses, which was one of the main focuses for the evening," he said.

The evening commenced with the second annual dance hosted by AIO. Kulkarni said the dance was one way the fraternity was trying to educate the University community about Indian culture.

Student performed three traditional dances, the Raas, Garba and the Bhangra. All of the dances, LSA junior Ram Dharmarajan said, are common at weddings, religious ceremonies and social events in India.

Halfway through the event, which lasted until 12:30 a.m., AIO presented ASHA with a check for $500.

AIO plans to hold a date auction, and it also is working on a Bhangra dance competition that is scheduled to take place on Jan. 21, 2000 at the Michigan Theater.

11-22-99