On Tuesday, October 28, Benjamin students were educated about the holiday of Diwali by various members of the Upper School community. Senior Dev Maharaj, freshman Indira Bandekar, and Upper School Psychology teacher Ms. Shweta Naik all shared their personal experiences with the holiday as well as more general information.
Diwali is a holiday celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and some Buddhists worldwide. It celebrates the new year and marks the victory of Lord Rama and his wife Sita after their return from exile. It also recognizes Lord Krishna’s defeat of the demon Narakasura. The festival is often celebrated with candles, fireworks, and sweet treats.
At the Upper School assembly, Maharaj offered a brief overview, while all three speakers shared more personal stories and explained their families’ celebrations. Both Maharaj and Bandekar also wore traditional Indian attire, which helped showcase the beauty of the holiday.
Diwali is very important to many communities around the world, and it was necessary to help explain more about the celebration to Upper School students.
“Diwali is comparable to Christmas or Rosh Hashanah for Hindus. It’s not only a very important holiday for a billion people around the world, but it’s also one that’s very colorful, and I thought people might find it interesting. Ms. Naik and I decided that the school should hear about it. Also, I think that the South Asian population at the school is not very large, so it doesn’t get much representation from the diversity council. But, we have so many amazing stories and traditions that we want to share with everyone,” explained Maharaj.
Ms. Naik shared her family tradition of baking and eating traditional desserts and sweets.
Maharaj has various fond memories of celebrating Diwali with friends and family. He was excited to get to share this with his Benjamin community.
“While, as a kid, I didn’t appreciate the loud music or words I couldn’t understand and itchy clothes I had to wear to go to temple for Diwali, the community that is brought together because of the holiday, and spending time with my grandparents are my favorite memories. As I got older, Diwali became something to be proud of as I accepted both Hinduism and Christianity in my life. I wanted to prove so by doing things like presenting in assembly and wearing Indian clothes too,” shared Maharaj.
Bandekar had similar remarks surrounding memories and her motives for presenting to the school.
“My favorite memory is the first time my family and I celebrated Diwali in Florida. We spent the whole day at our favorite Indian markets and restaurants, buying yummy foods and colorful sparklers. We also went to the temple, where we prayed to the Indian gods, ate delicious food, and got to hang out with all the other kids celebrating Diwali. It was so fun being part of the celebration with everyone there. When we got home, we cleaned up and watched Bollywood movies together. Later, we Facetimed our family in India and wished them a happy Diwali, which made the day feel really special. For dinner, my dad made dosas, and my mom made a spicy green chutney to go with them. It was so good, and I loved eating traditional food with my family in our new home. After dinner, we went to the beach with all our firecrackers and sparklers. Watching the bright colors light up the sky and reflect on the water was amazing. It was so much fun, and I’ll never forget that night.”
She continued to explain how she came to speak at the assembly.
“I was asked to. When they first asked me, I was really excited because I thought it was a cool chance to share part of my culture with the school. I felt proud that I got to represent something important to me. But on the day of the event, I started feeling more nervous than excited. I was worried about messing up or saying the wrong thing. Once I started talking, though, everything felt a lot more natural. The nerves went away, and I was really happy to be sharing my culture with my friends and classmates.”
Diwali is a holiday with such a rich background and variety of celebrations around the world. It was a wonderful experience for Benjamin students to hear about their classmates’ beliefs and celebrations.
