Students celebrate Diwali at home away from home

As celebrations for the festival of lights reach a crescendo, most Amdavadis will ensure that they are with their family for Diwali. However, owing to examinations, placements and sky-rocketed travelling expenses due to the festive season, many students of the city’s premier institutes have decided to celebrate the festival with friends at their home away from home – hostels on campus.
These celebrations, with friends on campus, will in no way dampen the spirit of their festivities even as dormitories wear a deserted look, students say.

Speaking to DNA, one such student at Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad (MICA), Pritish Mukherjee said that a bunch of his batchmates at the hostel would bring in Diwali and the New Year with firecrackers and traditional sweets.

“We have a very short holiday, and going all the way to Kolkata, from where I belong, and returning in time is not possible. Air ticket charges range anywhere from Rs15,000 to Rs20,000. So, I will wait for a longer vacation to go there and will celebrate Diwali at my home away from home,” he said.

Many PGP students of the second year at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) have also had to stay back as their summer placements programme is going on. One of these students said that in the last six years, he has been able celebrate the festival with family only twice.

“But whoever is present on the campus celebrates Diwali together at our second home, with firecrackers and sweets,” the student added. The festive scene is no different for Akshay Jain, a resident of Indore, Madhya Pradesh and currently a student at IIT-Gn. Academic and project work has left this student with no choice but to celebrate Diwali away from home, for the first time.

“We will order some sweets and snacks from the canteen and try and enjoy as much as we can,” Jain said, with a glimmer of hope.
In fact, it is not only students from outside the state who would be celebrating Diwali away from home, but also students from overseas. When Jean Baptiste, a student from a business management school in Paris, landed in Ahmedabad, he hardly knew what Diwali was. However, spending more time with other students at MICA, he learnt about the festival of lights, and was amazed.

Interestingly, it was only on Monday morning that the other students of the institute explained to him the mythological importance of the festival. “I was astonished to know about concept behind bursting firecrackers. It is very similar to the celebration of National Day back home on July 14, when we burst crackers as well,” said Jean of the festivities he is looking forward to.