Lakshmi Iyer
India Post News Service
SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA: SACAS – South Asian Cultural Association of Sunnyvale, organized a free Diwali Mela at the Sunnyvale Community Center on Saturday, October 21st.
The venue has a beautiful backdrop against a lake with buildings spread out, hosting different institutions such as a Senior Center, Sports and Recreation Center, and a theater.
The event featured an array of mesmerizing cultural performances from classical Bharatnatyam dances, Carnatic music – vocal and instrumental, to Bollywood/fusion dances by young children, adolescents, and adults.
There were tons of booths selling clothing, handicrafts, and eco-friendly products. Food trucks by The Indian Express and Atulya Bharat kept the attendees fueled up as they trudged along from buildings to the wide lawns, savoring the performances and shopping for trinkets.
Many nonprofits were among the participating exhibitors.
Prakash Giri of the organizing committee narrated how the event had grown from a handful of performances at the Orchard Pavilion inside the community center about four years ago to what it was now.
The year after the festival was launched, Covid hit. When it was resumed, there were a lot of restrictions such as mandatory masks.
“Last year, it became a little tighter in terms of controls and permits and all that, but I think last year and this year, it is getting better and better”, he said.
He added, “We are doing it just for the community and not looking to commercialize this but at the same time, we need those to bring in crowd as well, to watch the performances. Those are all the bare minimum – the cost of the tent is what we are giving to the vendors so that they benefit, be as a crowd puller.”
Ravi Narayan, one of the organizers, talked about his involvement, which started off with neighborhood friends and other like-minded people wanting to bring the community together, especially the South Asian community.
Sunnyvale has one of the highest percentages of South Asian immigrants. “We saw this kind of events all over the place and Sunnyvale is one of the biggest communities here”, he said.
Mr. Narayan felt good about the event. He elaborated, “Such an exciting moment today is that the weather is great, lot of people with family coming here, having a great time, and lot of performances are happening live, people are enjoying, too. Various civic officials also came today morning. They all appreciated this – bring people together, which works very well with the diversity, too.”
A young woman named Jayanthi, who was there with her child and her friends with their kids, had been housebound for the past few days. She said, “I have a 3-month-old kid at home so it’s like a change to me.”
Her friend, Sireesha added, “It’s good. It is representing our Indian tradition to the people and kids who are born here. It is good that event people are considering these events, and they are conducting.”
Malathi, a tech product marketing professional who volunteers with a farming co-op (co-operative) in Santa Cruz County, delivered flowers to the event.
Incidentally, she had no idea that Sunnyvale was having a Diwali event. She was just doing the delivery. “I am having fun!” she said, and added had she known, she would have brought her kids, too.
She was impressed by the performances. “I watched Pranavi’s performance. Pranavi is one of the ‘arangetram’ graduates. She did an amazing job. I really enjoyed it but unfortunately, I had to get back to the booth.”
She commended the participants – kids, as young as four years old, all the way to the adults.
“It’s surprising that this entire event started coming together… only three years old as an event and a community but it’s very well organized, beautiful decorations all the way through, and the traffic speaks for itself, right?” she added, and praised the organizers.
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