Carnival will bring South Asian flair

The annual Mela Carnival will to spread awareness about South Asian cultures to make the Horned Frog community more diverse, sophomore business marketing major Reva Verma said.

Students for Asian Indian Cultural Awareness organized the Mela Carnival. The carnival use the proceeds to benefit Pratyusha, an orphanage for children who are HIV positive, Verma said. The money earned would also help build and expand homes for children in rural India.

Sophomore finance and economic major Yatin Agarwal said the Mela Carnival will include music, dance, games, food and other culturally unique events from India.

Students can also get Indian body art such as henna tattoos and bindi stickers, he said.

“We try to bring [events] to life by having different stalls and having people go to every stall,” he said. “They can learn some Bollywood dancing and folk dancing and just have a good experience while being there.”

Sophomore business major Javesh Chugani said the Mela Carnival would allow students to experience a culture they might not know much about. Stalls at the carnival would exhibit traditional Indian clothes and pottery for students.

Several performances and surprises would occur, and SAICA was planning a dance to perform for the audience, he said.

“Our goal is to reach out to all students, not only the international students or not only the South Asian students, to come experience what South Asian Indian culture is all about,” he said.

The Mela Carnival
When: Saturday, Oct. 29
Where: BLUU Ballroom
Price: $3 for tickets to benefit Pratyusha, an orphanage for children who are HIV positive.