My first Diwali at IIT Hyderabad , I slept through the beginning of it. My friends came to my room and pulled me out of deep sleep. When I got there, slightly disoriented, expecting something ordinary, I found my batchmates painting diyas, making lanterns, putting mehendi on each other’s hands, and learning games together.

I stood there for a moment and understood: this was not going to be like Diwali at home.

I am from West Godavari in Andhra Pradesh, 20 years old, and in my final year of B.Tech in Material Science and Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad. This week, I am running the institute’s Diwali celebrations as the overall coordinator of EBSB, better called ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’. It is the IIT’s cultural club that organises events bringing together students from different states and traditions.…