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South
Asia Day raises awareness
By Sarah Duffy
On-line Forty-Niner
The rain did not dampen the spirits of South Asia Day organizers
or keep students from participating in an afternoon fair that
featured food and music and information about the region.
Many people are aware of India, but they are not aware of
the other countries or cultures of the region, said Atil Parikh,
an international student from the state of Gujarat in India
and organizer for the event. Besides India, the represented
cultures were Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
"That's why we are having South Asia Day," Parikh
said. "So that people become more aware of their culture,
their food, and what all is going on in that part of the world."
After walking by the booths serving chicken tandoori, mixed
vegetable curry, samosas, naan, and a variety of sweets, Elizabeth
McGraw, senior art major, decided the food court on campus
was too crowded and opted to try the South Asian fair for
the first time.
Cut into triangles and balls stuffed with nuts and cream,
various sweets called barfi, kalajam, and cham cham were also
served.
"They are made of lot of milk, cream of wheat and sugar,
and boiled potatoes that is concentrated, and then you let
it cool and cut into shapes," said co-chair of the South
Asia committee, Namika Raby, who was representing the Sri
Lankan information booth.
Religious studies professor Maria Heim, who has traveled and
lived in the South Asia region, stopped by the booth to visit
and leave fliers announcing an added fall class on Sanskrit,
the oldest of the Indo-European languages still in active
use. Her favorite regional food is Sri Lankan cuisine, due
to its use of coconuts.
"It has a wonderful smoothness to it. It's just my personal
taste, when I was in Sri Lanka, I just couldn't get enough,"
Heim said. "They just have a particular blend of flavors
and spices that's distinctive to their region that I like
very much."
Daryl Funk, junior anthropology major says he's familiar with
Indian dishes made of chana dal, phool gobi and aloo, which
translated, means chick peas, cauliflower and potatoes.
"I've always been somewhat fascinated with Indian culture,"
Funk said. "The food is great. They usually have a lot
of vegetarian stuff, and I'm vegetarian."
It's nice to see options in culture, food and religion, junior
English major, Kevin Rhodes said.
"Hinduism, Sihkism and Buddihism are all represented
here, which is more than I've seen here [at CSULB] in the
past month."
Sri Lanka is a religiously and ethnically mixed nation, part-time
professor Raby said. Seventy percent is buddhist and 30 percent
is other, which consists of a mixture of ethnicities.
Religion also is varied, represented by Roman Catholics, Christians
of other denominations, Muslims and Hindus in Sri Lanka.
"Because Sri Lanka was a colony not just of the British,
but the Dutch and the Portuguese, so they each brought things
from their own culture," Raby said. "Unfortunately
we don't have restaurants here that have Sri Lankan food,
so this is all Indian food."
All the food was prepared by the Kamal Palace, a popular Indian
food restaurant in Long Beach that Parikh and his friends
like.
The latter half of the afternoon was dedicated to a discussion
on the current issues and challenges in south Asia, featuring
a panel of consul generals representing the countries of Nepal,
India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Parikh was interested in whether the panel would address politics
in India. Many of the youngest and brightest people in India
stay away from politics, Parikh said.
"Some people are uneducated, and still they are the minister
of some of the states," Parikh said. "It's a real
concerning issue to see uneducated people running the countries."
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Sarah
Duffy/On-line Forty-Niner
Junior Daryl Funk, anthropology major, reads
about Hinduism on an information panel provided by the Center
of International Education for South Asia Day.
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