Levin Ballroom was packed to the brim Sunday, Nov. 17 as hundreds of eager students, faculty members and others assembled for Mela, the annual cultural celebration of the South Asian Students Association."Out of all of the cultural events we have at Brandeis, [Mela] is probably the most widely attended," said Ameeka Pannu '08, who served as Events Coordinator for Mela alongside Laila Khan '08. "We sold about 600 tickets this year."

Each Mela is marked by a wide variety of performances from the seven different countries which comprise SASA: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Maldives. These presentations have traditionally spanned the gamut from dances to songs to skits to fashion to spoken-word presentations and beyond.

"We decided to do a little bit of traditional stuff as well as more modern things," said Pannu. So the Bharatnatyam [a classical dance form from South India] was traditional ... and then we also did songs from popular Bollywood movies, and some hip hop."

This year's event also featured a special appearance by the Babson Bhangra Team, which Pannu said was "the first intercollegiate team we've seen in a while." The presence of the Punjabi dance troupe, which includes students from Babson, Bentley and Brandeis, only contributed to the deep sense of cultural community shared by the audience throughout the evening.

Mela's goal has always been a straightforward one; as Pannu stated: "We basically tried to showcase our culture and be as true to it as possible." If that evening's performance was any indication, in that truth there also happened to be great beauty.