Photography by Harpreet Kaur '19.
Every year, SASA (South Asian Students Association) kicks of the school year with a makeshift South Asian carnival on the Green and this year was no different. As I was walking over to the Green to attend my fourth and last Mela Masala on September 11th, I could already see the huge line forming at the food station. For a few hours, SASA manages to transform the Green into a mini world in South Asia, with loud Bollywood music playing in the back and people getting beautiful henna tattoos on their arms. And to this day, Mela Masala has managed to uphold its traditions and it keeps getting better each year.
This year, SASA came up with a few very innovative ideas with regards to food, games and decorations. For decorations, they had put up all the flags of the South Asian countries so as to increase awareness about each of them. For food, instead of the classic samosas (mashed potatoes and peas wrapped in flour and deep fried), they had food from every country that is a part of South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives). That meant a wide variety of food such as momos, kheer, pakoras, chotputi and chai that the Clark community can relish. On top of that, all of the food was cooked and prepared by the SASA E-board, something they did differently this year!
As someone who was a part of SASA during my sophomore and junior years, I was so proud of the innovative ideas the new E-board had come up with! They also had the classic henna booth and hookah station, both of which are long standing traditions. But they also had carrom, a board game believed to have originated in the Indian subcontinent.
Mela Masala has always done more for the South Asian first-year students than any other attendees. This year too, we have close to 30 South Asian first-years at Clark, all of who were really excited to get a much needed respite from the constant homesickness. I clearly remember that my freshman year, I wasn’t even planning to attend this event because I was too shy and tired of meeting new people after a long and grueling International Students’ Orientation and Week One. But when some of my friends dragged me to it, I was grateful that they did. The smell of food immediately took me back to the streets of my city in India, the music and the people, everything about Mela Masala reminded me of home.
SASA has been such an integral part of my life at Clark and I am sure it will continue to change the lives of some South Asians who will find a home away from home in the midst of like-minded, creative and amazing people that are a part of SASA!
