The Festival of Color, holi hails from northern India and Nepal and is celebrated to mark the beginning of spring. Hence, in most parts of India, the festival is also referred to as Basaant Utsav (spring festival). While the festival signals the start of spring, the use of colors to celebrate symbolizes the vibrancy of the season itself. 

The Indian Student Association will host its annual celebration of the festival on Friday, April 9 at the Honors College International Center lawn from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The newly elected chair of the Indian Student Association, Abhishek Bose, 27, said the main idea of the event is integration.

“India is made up of north, south, east and west,” he said. “But Holi brings us and other students of WKU together, and everybody gets to enjoy as one.”

Founded in 2006 the Indian Student Association has celebrated Holi every yeah since. It was initially celebrated as an inter-association event to provide a slice of home for the Indian international students, Indian Student Association adviser Ajay Srivastava said.

“This would be our third Holi celebration on a large scale, with students of different cultures,” he said.

Unlike the last two years of on-campus celebrations of Holi, this year the members of the Indian Student Association are planning something a little different, secretary Deekshita Madas said. The freshman computer science graduate student said the association intends to make it more interactive and culture friendly.

The committee has planned different games within the celebration to achieve the goal. The itinerary involves a game of musical chairs, water balloon fights, a possible flash mob performance by the Indian students and the color fight.

“To me, Holi is about spreading love,” she said. “It is about friends and family and a crowd that gathers to celebrate the festival with great energy.”

In the latest association meeting held on last Wednesday to discuss the advances in the planning of the event, Srivastava told the Indian Student Association committee members the event should be able to engage a wider range of the university community.

“Western Kentucky University is a university with international reach,” he said. “Such events will help improve the world we live in. So come, let us make a splash with Holi.”

Reporter Srijita Chattopadhyay can be reached at (270) 745-0655 and [email protected].