Welcome to The Hotel Ayodhya

               The India Students Association organized an event to celebrate Diwali: The Festival of Lights. It was hosted on the evening of November 14th, in the Auditorium Building and was a 2 hour cultural musical variety-show. Most of the other attendees were young Indian students, and they seemed to be sharing a kind of ethic bonding quality among one another. I enjoyed the openness and sincerity of the atmosphere and immediately entered into a relaxed and festive demeanor.

               The most interesting part of the evening was a seven minute musical performance by a group of six musicians led by an Indian student named Sanji. Most of the other presentations at this point had been pretty traditional or deeply ethnic. Sanji now stood on the stage with five other young men, all every-day college-kid dressed, and four of the five were Caucasian. I mention this last detail because at the time it really stood out visually: the contrast was unexpected and so it made me stop and think. It was a rock ensemble: Sanji played acoustic guitar his mates were playing 3 additional guitars (one electric, one acoustic, and one classical), a drum set, and the last performer played saxophone and electric keyboard.

               A cover of The Eagles’, “Hotel California” opened up with a long sax solo: apparently an improvisation of the song’s well known vocal verse melody. As soon as Sanji began singing it was so clearly not-another high-school band cliché Eagles cover that I had to laugh. The timbre of the voice was rather Kirk Hammet of Metallica, but the medium-heavy Indian accent and overall tone-reluctance carried it beyond further comparison. The music was pretty underwhelming, but just the simple fact of the performance taking place kept spirits high among the audience, me included. Cameras flashing, the audience was politely elated as the song picked up, and even hooted and cheered during the well-known heroic moments, and even during completely new heroic moments, like when the keyboard player missed a cue and began playing the wrong section only to stop and rejoin in next measure.

               Musically, this show was a pretty absurd experience. I couldn’t help but glow at the dense post-modern statements allowed to be made in this atmosphere of friendliness and acceptance. I think most people who attended Diwali that night would agree with me when I say that serious music and tradition is great, but what it all comes down to is getting together and being happy with ourselves and with each other.