By – Keta Desai

UNC’s Ek Taal is a bharatnatyam fusion team that performs both on campus and at competitions. This year’s dance features a theme revolving around four central gods of Hindu religion: Shiva, Bramha, Vishnu, & Krishna.

Ek Taal recently won first place for the first time at Mercer University’s Rangoli Competition that took place on October 25th. For the opportunity to see this dance on campus and learn more about the Indian culture, come out to see Ek Taal’s performance at Journey into Asia on November 22^nd. All feet one beat!

Masala’s annual multi-cultural, Night Around the World, was held Friday, October 5^th, in the Great Hall. With performances by ¡Qué Rico!, Breakin’ Point, Raas Rangela, The Achordants, Zankiliwa, Arab Student Organization, Ek Taal, Kamikazi, Mezmerhythem, Psi Sigma Phi, EROT, Theta Nu Xi, and Bhangra Elite the show lived up to its name. It’s not often that you can hear powerful spoken word poetry from EROT, see fabulous flips and rhythm from ¡Qué Rico!, and feel the chilling steps of Breakin’ Point all in one show. The performances were about more than just entertainment. Each performance, especially those by Psi Sigma Phi, EROT, and Theta Nu Xi challenged the audience to think more critically about diversity at UNC and to question prior held beliefs. The night also proved to many of the parents who were in attendance that students are still interested in their cultures, and expressing themselves through performance. Overall the event was success and those who missed out this year should definitely make it next year.

Who are you? Who do you represent: Indians specifically, South Asians in general, or an array of multiple cultures?

Our organization is based on South Asian interest, but anyone can join. We’re open to anyone with good character and that have an interest in South Asian culture.

How have you gotten the word out about this your new organization?

First of all, we have three pillars service, education, and unity. To uphold them, we sponsor and co-sponsor many activities that spreads awareness of our culture and the fraternity.

What are some activities your fraternity is involved with or sponsors (note, this does not include philanthropic events)? Do you collaborate with other organizations on campus? Who?

We hosted an event for the National Gandhi Day of Service to Habitat for Humanity and got Sangam members to come. Social activities include a Garba, which we’ve held in the past two years. Our Third Annual Flag Football Tournament is a charity event for which all proceeds are going to Ekal Vidyalaya; which funds and supports a school in a village of South Asia for a whole year. We just want to give back to the South Asian community. Every year we make a decision on where to make our donations and the amount of money we raise during events go to many charitable organizations. We’ve thrown parties at Player’s for charity, held bone marrow drives, co-hosted dinner for Muslim Student Association after their fast breaking. We’ve worked with Delta Phi Omega, other Greek Alliance Council members. DSI also has internal events which the brothers participate in such as paintball and DSI Olympics which involves our Brothers to competing in different sports against each other throughout the semester.

What is your specific philanthropy?

Bone marrow registry is our national philanthropy. We’ve held 2 drives this semester alone and registered over 110 people .

What is the process in order to become a Brother? When does it begin? Is there a house?

There’s a two week process at the beginning of every semester known as “rush” in which students get to know the Brothers, get a feel for what we do, what we do stand for, and what we offer for people who join. We hope the process will inspire interest.

What kind of students do you look for? Can some have an advantage over others?

There is no certain type of person we are looking for, we look for people with high characters, and high morals. Our screening is based on the GPA requirement, students’ morals and their interest in promoting South Asian culture.

What factors lead you to decide to join a culturally based fraternity instead of one of the many IFC ones?

When I first came, I wasn’t planning on joining it. I had stereotypes of my own about fraternities, and then one of the founders came up to me and asked if I was interested. They told me about what they stand for, about the pillars, how they promote our culture. I learned that they were huge on community service. So I thought that I couldn’t go wrong with this. Once I tried it out, I realized that this is what I really wanted to do; I wanted to give back to the community. Ever since then, I have been a brother, devoted a lot of time and now I’m President of DSI which shows how much DSI means to me. Culture is very important, and we strive to uphold it here.

How do you think having a culturally based fraternity separate from a social one shapes the Carolina experience?

We’re considered to be a Social Service fraternity. We can show that Greek Life is more than what most people think, that it adds to the diversity of the community. By having a fraternity that is based on culture, going out there to actively promote it, we are able to create events on a larger scale and, thus create more awareness. Even people who aren’t involved, like people who aren’t South Asian, are exposed to it. Our efforts lead to such exposure.

What do you think students gain from being involved with DSI? And specifically, what have you gained? What was your most rewarding or gratifying experience in the years of being involved?

Obviously, I gained friendship with a group of guys that has become closer. They provide a loyal, trustworthy support system. Coming into my freshman year, I didn’t think I would have had that, that reliable group who I trust and can call any time of the day. People always say, “I don’t want to buy friendships.” I don’t think that stereotype applies to DSI. It’s not the right way to look at us. We are a tight group of people; essentially you earn it [friendships]. Once you do, it opens up so many doors and makes the experience so much better. You can call on people for help, life issues, future concerns. In one click we can send out emails to hook up brothers with jobs, or residential availability, anything. We gain a huge national network. There are definite benefits through service aspect as well. We’ve helped kids, run down communities, the elderly, build homes for Habitat. I wouldn’t have been exposed to all of this without DSI. It’s really hard to be self motivated as an individual sometimes, because you may not have the information or the resources, but with a group of people who all have the same mindset, it makes efforts much more satisfying by making a big difference in the community. We’ve actually won awards for contributing most service hours, which was very rewarding. I think we’re all most proud about executing our service aspect of our pillar and culture. Otherwise, we’ll be just another fraternity. What good are we if we don’t do those two things? I’m most proud about giving back to the community and promoting our culture.

This fall, every Monday and Wednesday you can catch them on the Ehringhaus fields. You will see them working hard, but more importantly working as a team as they bowl, bat, and field. A sport that has and is played in over fifteen countries, and since 2005 on Carolina’

s campus: Cricket.

The UNC-CH Cricket Club is a team that has existed on and off for almost 10 to 20 years. However, it was officially named a student organization in the fall of 2005.
Two students walking back from studying for a test: Vishal Dhandha and Tejan Diwanji had a conversation about starting a cricket team and this how this small idea progressed into a team of dedicated cricket players.

Currently, the team has about 18 members (including inactive and active members) who include undergraduates mainly, but a few graduates and alumni. They play teams in the area: at Duke, N.C. State and other universities and colleges near by. In fact, they have upcoming games against Davidson, Campbell, N.C. State, and Duke. The current president of the team is Siddharth Patel, a sophomore at Carolina. He began his position this fall after Vishal Dhandha stepped down. Dhandha (a Senior at UNC) stepped down from the position because he was concerned that after he graduated that the cricket team would fall apart, unless an underclassmen took up the position to keep the tradition going.

As well as Dhandha, Patel decided to step up because he also wanted the cricket team to live on at Carolina. Patel discussed his goals for his team being: winning games, playing in more tournaments, and improving the team as a whole. When asked whether he felt there was support from fans and students on campus Patel said: “We are trying to schedule more games at home so that we see more coming out to watch.”

Whether you watch them at their practices twice a week, or in their next tournament, you will see that the UNC-CH Cricket Club is a team full of passion for the sport. For more information on the team go to: http://studentorgs.unc.edu/unccricket/.

- Deepti Panjabi