Girl Scouts learn about Indian culture

Brownie troop attends Diwali party to earn Asian-American Patch.

By: Chinenye Okparanta
   Brownie Troop 1669 got to experience Indian culture on Sunday without ever having to leave Cranbury.
   To earn their Asian-American Patch, about 30 of the second-grade troop members attended a Diwali party hosted by Cranbury resident Neelu Agrawal at her home in Shadow Oaks.
   Ms. Agrawal’s daughter, Elina Roychowhdhury, is a member of the Brownie troop.
   The Diwali party introduced the girls to the five-day festival of lights that marks the beginning of the new year for many businesses in India.
   Diwali, which began Tuesday, means a row of lights and is celebrated throughout India by Hindus, Ms. Agrawal said. The festival has many different observances and traditions but always occurs on a dark, moonless night in October or November.
   According to a story that Ms. Agrawal shared with the troop, Diwali is celebrated as the day in which a prince named Rama returned to the Indian city of Ayodhya after a 14-year exile.
   "At the end of the 14 years he defeated the evil god who had exiled him. The day of Diwali is the day he returned to his town and to celebrate, people lit diyas, or clay lamps," Ms. Agrawal said.
   The troop members earned their Asian-American Patch by participating in three different activities. At the first station, the girls decorated a box in traditional Indian design using sari fabrics and filled the boxes with traditional Indian snacks.
   At the second station the girls were shown how to put on a sari, a traditional garment worn by Indian women. Parent volunteers Swati Lele-Sarafin and Anita Joshi showed the girls how to drape the fabrics by dressing fellow volunteer parent Sarah Spalding-Klieman in a sari.
   "Swati had just come back from India and she purchased scarves for all of the girls," Ms. Agrawal said. "So it made them feel exotic and get into the spirit."
   The girls next learned how a house might be decorated for a prayer, which along with parties, lots of lights and candles, firecrackers and exchanging of sweets, is a big part of the Diwali festival.
   "The girls were amazing, so interested. Absolute model guests," Ms. Agrawal said.