When Neerja Mishra and her family first moved to Short Hills from London in 2004, there were almost no other Indian families in town.“ We enjoyed celebrating American holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but my kids weren’ tlearning any of our native festivals,” the New Delhi native says. In order to remedy this situation, and |
also to connect with other Indians, she established the Desi Club in 2008.
The Desi Club( desi is the Hindi word for“ native”) is a social and cultural hub for the rapidly growing Indian community in Millburn-Short Hills. In addition to serving as a welcome wagon for newly-arrived families, itisalso asource ofinformation on where to buy Indian groceries, find weekend children’ s Hindi classes, and more. Perhaps most important, the club organizes largescale
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celebrations ofIndian holidays.
An especially cherished holiday is Diwali, the Indian New Year. Also known asthe Festival of Lights( the word itself refers to arow of lights), it is an ancient Hindu celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, or good over evil. Different families may celebrate it with different traditions, but light is always involved: Numerous diyas, oroil lamps, are lit in Indian homes worldwide on Diwali. ➤
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COURTESY OFMALLIKA MALHOTRA |