Story and photos by Yonathan Shimelis
The University of Maryland Nepalese Student Association held its first Nepali Night in three years at Hoff Theater inside Adele H. Stamp Student Union on Friday. The event was a celebration of the Nepalese new year, called Navavarsha.
The night featured a range of performances, including dances and even fashion shows showing a variety of traditional Nepali clothing, as well as food for attendants.
Many were in attendance for the night, both students and families alike. Also invited were students from other Nepali Student Associations from nearby schools, like the one at George Mason University.
For attendee Jay Panday, this was the first Nepali night they’ve ever attended.
“I feel like I was somewhere in Nepal. it was a different feeling, I really liked it,” Panday said.
Like many clubs and organizations on campus, the NSA faced difficulties with recruitment and member base during COVID-19, but for some executive board members, the turnout was inspiring to see.
“Due to the virus, our member base shrunk significantly, this year has been sort of our effort to rebuild, and I feel like this event was a turning point into bringing more members back into our club,” said Pravas Dhakal, a sophomore marketing major and public relations chair for NSA.
Dhakal said they had been to a Nepali Night before he was a student but this night was his first Nepali Night as a university student. He said the experience is different now that he got the chance to be a part of planning the event.
“It gave me a chance to see how much hard work, determination, and passion you need to have for events like this…I was always inspired when I attended (Nepali night) before, and I got to put my inspiration into act organizing it myself,” Dhakal said.
The event had a great showing, with about 220 tickets sold. Hoff Theater was filled and the Nepali Student Association sold out of food tickets. Some members, like junior environmental engineering major and Vice President Pranav Shrestha, thought COVID-19 would impact the numbers in attendance on Friday.
“In the very beginning, we weren’t expecting much of a turnout…but eventually more and more people started signing up and coming in,” Shrestha said.
For Dhakal, the event holds greater importance beyond the Nepali community.
“I invited a lot of my friends who are not Nepali because I wanted to show them what my culture is…this was my first time being able to show them how beautiful our culture is,” said Dhakal.
Nepali night is one of the largest events the Nepali Student Association holds. The funding came from the association’s yearly budget.
“We haven’t had this big an event in three years,” Shrestha said.
Shrestha said they hoped UMD and other universities would help support smaller cultural organizations in funding more big cultural events.