By
Jose Ceja
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Dancers perform 'Virangana' for emotional relief
Members of the UA Indian community are preparing to raise relief funds for their home country's worst earthquake in 50 years.
Arun Ravi, a computer engineering junior and president of the University of Arizona India Club, said his organization will have a booth on the UA Mall starting today to collect donations for the Red Cross' Indian Relief Fund.
Friday's earthquake in the western state of Guajarat measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, with aftershocks as high as 6.0. The Associated Press reported more than 6,000 people have died, a figure which some officials told the news organization they think will reach 20,000.
Ravi, who has several friends and family in Guajarat, the west Indian state most ravaged by the earthquake, said he immediately called relatives in the country after the tremor.
"It was pretty scary," he said. "For them, luckily, it was okay, but a lot of people died and it was very sad."
"It was a pretty devastating earthquake," he added.
The India Club, which will be inducting new members this Saturday, will also donate some of the membership fees to the relief fund, Ravi said.
Ravi said he has noticed much enthusiasm from the Associated Students and other members of the UA community in mobilizing some form of relief.
"It's been a totally positive reaction," he said.
Nita Umashankar, a molecular and cellular biology sophomore and member of the Arathi School of India Dancers, said her dance troop plans to put on a performance to benefit victims.
The Arathi School of India Dancers, created six months ago by Sue Umashankar, a UA marketing lecturer, will perform "Virangana," meaning "courage," in Phoenix to provide some emotional relief for earthquake victims.
Umashankar said that the date of the show, which is a dance drama depicting the courage of five of the most famous women in Indian history, has not been given yet, but those interested can call her within a few days for more details, she said.
"We are trying our best, as a group, to respond to this in a positive manner," she said.
Nita Umashankar agreed.
"It's an emergency benefit concert so we can pull together the Indian community as well as the surrounding communities in an effort to help the people in India," she said.
Although the Umashankars are not from the affected region, several women who will be dancing in the performance are from Guajarat, she added.
"Where our people are, it is relatively untouched, but we know people in the area," Nita Umashankar said.
Sruthi Talluri, a business junior who is also a dancer in the group, said she does not have family in the affected region but still felt the earthquake close to home.
"I think it's the least we can do to help people in India, even if we don't have family there (Guajarat)," Talluri said. "It's our mother country."
