I was truly amazed to see the huge number of non-Indians participating in the event I attended this year. The attendees represented the multicultural society one has come to associate with the bay area. I'm glad that Indian Americans have actively encouraged the attendance of those of non south-Asian descent. The fact that Hindus are not anal about religious rules and are all for having a festival for the sake of a festival probably helped.
) All the proceeds from this event were used to fund the education of poor children.
It would be great if Other Asians try to do the same. I mean...The last time I was invited to a VSA Gala...I could count the non-viets in the fingers of my hand :P
There are a lot of people out there who are interested in learning more about other cultures( eg me) but are kinda put off by some of the clannish attitude found in some of the Asian festivals/events. Instead of being welcomed, often outsiders are just left standing..feeling totally out of place.lol. (This actually happened to me and my Japanese friend when we attended the Nowrus(Persian New year Festival).....we one of the few non-Persians there and none of the people there even welcomed us.lol. The VSA event was much better cos at least the people were welcoming.)
Hint Hint: invite more people to your festival/events folks
PS: I hasten to add that not all Asians are clannish..lest people start complaining!
There will be yet another one this time next year. You guys are more than welcome to attend
anyway...here are some pics from the Largest Holi festival in the west coast (with nearly 7000 participants)
Standford Holi 2011.
Lotsa Cute Asian girls
All credits belong to Chris Williams. a photographer par excellence!
More here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcticpuppy/s...ith/5593983200/
^^ check his fb images collection...there are about 200 pics
Holi 2010 collection
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcticpuppy/s...57623722861130/
My question .... how hard it is to clean up ? 