Every year the BU SALSA (South Asian Law Student Association) holds its annual Diwali/Eid Celebration. It could be the most anticipated event at the law school simply because it involves free Indian food. The term 
South Asian (not to be confused with Southeast Asian) refers to people from the Indian subcontinent: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Nepal. Diwali is a five day festival that takes place in October-November in India and is known as the “Festival of Lights.” In Hinduism it celebrates the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya, his kingdom, after he defeating Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, as depicted in the Hindu epic Ramayana. Eid is a celebration that marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting.
As Social Chair of SALSA, the rest of the executive board and I planned and organized the event. The executive boards of almost all the law student groups on campus are comprised of 2Ls. 1Ls take part in the events but don’t do any of the organizing. 3Ls sit back and take it easy and provide advice to 2Ls. At some point in your law school experience, you’ll probably be involved in some sort of student group (here are some of the student groups at BU).
The event took a lot of work to plan on top of managing law school work. All kinds of paperwork needed to be filled out for catering, room reservation, setup and take down and audio/visual support, but in the end we managed to get it done and the event was a blast with around 130 people or so attending.
The event began with a fashion show of all the SALSA members (1L, 2L and 3L) displaying South Asian clothing. There was a short speech on the significance of Diwali and Eid and then one of our members performed an Indian dance. Food for the event was catered by a local Indian restaurant and was a big hit with everyone who attended. People got a chance to eat, mingle and talk to SALSA members about Diwali and Eid. I’ll post pictures in the relatively near future.
