Indiana State University Newsroom

The Indian Student Association at Indiana State University will host a Festival of Colors celebration on Saturday.

The celebration will be held at Wolf Field from 4 to 7 p.m. and feature people getting doused in color as part of the celebration. People attending the event are encouraged to wear white clothing that they do not mind being stained permanently. The spring festival, which is free and open to the public, also will feature Indian finger foods and music.

"We are trying to generate a dialogue between the Indian community and the rest of the people here at ISU and in Terre Haute," said Sowmya Challa, doctoral student at Indiana State and treasurer of the Indian Student Association. "When people are putting color on each other, you are inviting people into different space, a personal space, and it shows that they're willing to communicate with each other."

The event is also to encourage children in the community to learn more about each other by being able to play with each other at the festival.

"It will be a starter for a conversation, definitely," Challa said of people getting to "color" one another. "Just to know that good people will come, and if you put colors on each other, that will generate conversations, and hopefully friendships."

Organizers of the event also will be accepting donations for The Invisible Girl Project, a human rights organization dedicated to raising global awareness for the discrimination and loss of female lives in India.

"The problem is most people don't know about it," Challa said, "so awareness is a huge issue for" the organization.

More information about The Invisible Girl Project can be found at http://www.invisiblegirlproject.org

Contact: Sowmya Challa, treasurer, Indian Student Association, Indiana State University, schalla@sycamores.indstate.edu