The Sa Re Ga Ma Event
I noticed while looking into secondary sources that most academic research on South Asian university students have been conducted in the United Kingdom and Canada, addressing a gap in the scholarly literature on South Asian American university students. Nonetheless, certain insights into cultural events are valuable for discussing student clubs and events within an American context. Among these, the annual cultural event organized by South Asian student clubs stands out as particularly popular. Any university student can participate for a fee, indulging in cultural dishes typically catered from local businesses, and partake in watching and joining cultural dances (Tirone & Pedlar, 2000; Grau, 2013). At Poly, the yearly SASA event was called Sa Re Ga Ma. Sa, Re, Ga, Ma are the four standard notes comprising the Indian musical octave 'sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni sa', which is analogous to Western heptatonic scales (do re mi fa so la ti do) (Smith, 2008). The 2001 Polywog description mentions this name in the club description but generally labels photos from the event as the SASA Cultural Show. The students are clad in South Asian cultural outfits such as lehengas and kurtas, and captured in various dance positions. Most university clubs recruit Bhangra, Raas, or Bollywood dance teams to perform (Patel, 2010; Shrikant, 2015). It looks like the students are doing a semi-impromptu performance, which fosters an atmosphere of jest and no judgment (Becker, 2000). Although the positions seemed improvised, there are similarities between the positions in the photographs and some iconic Bollywood songs. The mimicking of Bollywood film scenes and songs is a classical practice amongst young South Asians, especially at weddings and special events, because it evokes a sense of nostalgia (Dawson, 2005). Bollywood film music is not just simply dancing to the music, but a form of storytelling (Kao & Rozario, 2008). There is a level of acting involved meaning that expressions and clothing are pivotal parts of the performance.
Featured on the left, I made some ‘educated guesses’ as a self-proclaimed Bollywood connoisseur to match the photographs featured in the 2001 Polywog with clips from 1990-2000s Bollywood songs. The first photo looks like an expression made by Kajol in the song Saajanji Ghar Aaye from the 1998 film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. In the second photo, the female presenting figure is wearing a tie, while the male presenting figure is wearing a suit while thrusting his hand in the air–like Akshay Kumar does in Akela Hai Mr Khiladi from Mr. and Mrs. Khiladi (1997). The third photo was slightly more ambiguous. Based on the circular formation of the dancers, it appears that they are performing a variation of dandiya raas, which is a Gurjarati folk dance in honor of the Hindu Goddess Durga Maa (Falcone, 2013). I linked a popular Bollywood raas song titled Dholi Taaro from Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) to give a fuller visual of the dance. Bollywood music frequently explores themes centered around love, family, and celebration.
We see another example of dandiya raas dancing during SASA’s 2000 Diwali (Hindu/Sikh Festival of Lights) Celebration. The first image depicts a member of SASA teaching a white-appearing faculty member how to dance using dandiya sticks, representing how the club was open to non-South Asian members of the Poly community to be a part of events and celebrations. While such images are missing in the Sa Re Ga Ma photos, it is important to note that the yearbook only featured performers and not audience members.
However, it can be surmised that the club aimed for their event to be open to everyone on campus as shown by the statement that the celebration "brought together the Poly community," (Polywog, 2001). This is common amongst South Asian cultural clubs where events like Holi (Hindu/Sikh celebration of spring) are open to all students and faculty to participate in (Marshall, 2018). I could not find other Poly events that SASA may have had. Bonnie Harper, the adminstrative assistant in the Office of Student Affairs, would have to look into her work archives on event flyers or announcements on the old Poly website before it became Tandon. But for timing purposes, I looked into South Asian Cultural events in other nearby colleges. The Brooklyn College Desi Club hosts their annual Holi festival which is open to everyone regardless of cultural or religious background (Lin, 2023). One student states that "I definitely love celebrating my friends who are of another culture, and it allows me to embrace their culture; to see what they do differently," highlighting how these events can serve as new experiences to people outside of the culture (Lin, 2023).
Who says engineers can’t dance? While looking for photographs of the Sa Re Ga Ma events, this line transported me back to a required reading in my Introduction to Feminist Science Class. In Helen Longino’s article Can There Be a Feminist Science, she posits “If we recognize, however that knowledge is shaped by assumptions, values and interests of a culture and that, within limits, one can choose one’s culture, then it’s clear that as scientists/theorists we have a choice,” (Longino, 1987). Longino postulates that science and scientists are not detached from culture. That scientists are the actors that perform science, and these actors come from cultural and social backgrounds that shape the science being done. Scientists such as engineers have reflexivity–or in colloquial terms “they have lives too.” Having cultural diversity in a university fosters creativity and reveals a larger reflection of problems that exist in the world (Leung et al., 2008).
Such diversity is demonstrated at the 2005 Sa Re Ga Ma event. There are solo dances, partner dances, group dances, some members in South Asian wear, others in Western wear (Polywog, 2005). The dancer in the second and third images seems to be performing Mukkala Mukkabla which is a 1994 song from the Telugu film Kaadhalan, representing a wider diversity in South Asian music other than Hindi. I could not match up as many pictures with South Asian popular cultural references in this year as much as I wanted to. Most of the outfits have Western influences which makes the matching more ambiguous. In the latter photo, there is a harmonium and tabla player as well highlighting how instrumental performances are now included. This accounts for the post-9/11 changes to the club to incorporating both international South Asian students and South Asian American students.
I have compiled a YouTube playlist of possible songs that may have been played during the Sa Re Ga Ma events between 2001-2005. Featured on the left is the hit song Dola Re Dola from Devdas (2002). Aishwarya Rai and Madhuri Dixit are the main performers. After both dealing with the hardship of loving the same man, the movie takes a break to recognize the friendship between the two women during a Navratri celebration (honoring Hindu Goddess Durga Maa). I noticed much more partner dances in at the 2005 Sa Re Ga Ma event and thought this most likely would have been played. If you want to check out the playlist, click here.
