Student Group Profile: Indian Subcontinent Student Association

Strangely enough, it took coming to Baylor for Chetan Puranik to discover his Indian heritage. 
The senior information systems major says he grew up in Houston with no Indian friends, and even his parents, who emigrated from India in the mid-1970s, could not pique his interest in their native music or movies. So, they were a little surprised when their son started participating in Indian dancing his freshman year. "I didn't even know Indians could dance," Puranik says. 
Now, he is one of a small group of students from the Indian Subcontinent Student Association (ISSA) who has learned to love the art and performance of cultural dance. Other returning members of last year's group -- Shagit Thakkar, Elvin Varughesekutty, Devang Shelat and Sanup Pathak -- share his passion. A few of them even share a similar story. Thakkar, a senior biology major, says he stumbled upon ISSA's annual Indian festival at the end of his freshman year.
"When I saw the Indian dancing, it clicked with me," Thakkar says. The next year, he signed up to be part of the group. Even though he considered himself fairly athletic, the rigor of the practices surprised him. For hours, they worked on a high-
energy, nonstop Punjabi dance called bhangra, which is performed barefoot. 
"We were practicing on these hard floors, jumping from foot to foot," he recalls. "Within about a week, I was ready for crutches." 
An interesting aspect about the dancing, Thakkar says, is that it is one cultural activity that his peers, considered the first generation of Indians born and raised in the United States, have embraced. 
"Whatever happens with this generation, we're going to set the direction for wherever the Indian culture goes, as far as settling in the U.S.," he says. "You should be able to be completely comfortable with the Western culture but definitely never lose your traditions."
The group also wants to share its customs with non-Indians on campus. Last spring, the group performed in Chapel for an overwhelmingly positive student audience. 
"I didn't think they would relate to it, but they loved it," says Puranik about their performance. "As soon as we got on the stage, they went crazy."