Although India is about 8,000 miles away from Boston, the Indian Cultural Association makes students feel like they’re back home.
The Indian Cultural Association, or ICA, is a club for undergraduates to learn about India and connect with Northeastern’s Indian community, which helps “to bridge the cultural gap” between international Indian students and Indian American students. The ICA was founded in May of 2023 by Naomi Rajput, a fifth-year behavioral neuroscience major and the former president, Nitya Goenka, Khushi Khetwani and Ria Singh. Currently, the club’s e-board is made up of seven students, and it has more than 200 members.
“We want to create a story for people,” said Khetwani, a fifth-year economics and business administration combined major and ICA’s former programming chair. “We want to have people join and talk to each other, learn with each other, have a mentor or a partner you could spend the rest of your college years with. That’s why ICA was started.”
The club has collaborated with other organizations, including the United States Senate-recognized Young Indian Professionals of New England, as well as Berklee College of Music’s Indian Cultural Association, to host events like “Colors and Cadence,” an evening of music and dance.
One of ICA’s recurring programs is “Chai and Chats,” where members talk to each other while sipping hot tea.
“We’re all having chai. We’re having snacks. We pull up music in the room. We’re all singing along and just talking about times where we’ve heard the songs before, just relating to it,” said Aarushi Agrawal, a second-year mechanical engineering major and ICA’s vice president. “I think those are moments where it’s not just a club. It’s more than that.”
Moulika Sivalenka, a second-year computer science and business administration combined major and ICA’s current president, emphasized that ICA is not exclusive to the Indian community.
“It’s about celebrating our culture but, at the same time, just getting to know people and finding a community where you can just talk about anything,” she said. “I met a lot of people where I could walk by and smile at them and know that I’ve built a connection with them. I don’t think I found that same connection with other cultural clubs here — it’s something I can always go back to.”
Although ICA has been active since 2023, the Student Government Association, or SGA, has not yet granted it official recognition as a club due to what it says is ICA’s similarity to other South Asian undergraduate clubs on campus. Northeastern’s other South Asian clubs include Utsav, NU Sanskriti and the Hindu Undergraduate Student Organization.
“A lot of South Indian students feel underrepresented,” Rajput said. “A lot of East and West Indian students feel underrepresented. So our aim with ICA was to bridge the gap between different subcultural groups and also bridge the gap between American Indian students and international Indian students.”
Rajput witnessed her close friends struggle to fit in and find a community when there was no undergraduate Indian club. She said that ICA’s events like the “Chai and Chats” mimicked “that home environment where you sip tea and talk about culture.”
Because of perceived discrimination in the SGA club approval process, ICA has helped initiate cultural sensitivity and competence training in SGA, which it didn’t have previously. Now, SGA is working internally to “improve and expand internal [diversity, equity and inclusion] efforts,” according to an email shared with The Huntington News that was sent to ICA by SGA.
Still, Rajput said the group has continued to grow and prove its value through collaborations with other clubs and large turnout at events.
“We’re not just saying, ‘Celebrate Indian culture.’ We’re pushing the Indian diaspora forward,” Rajput said. “If you’re Indian on campus, this is your solace.”
Even without official recognition, members said they are focused on cultivating a sense of community among students.
“ICA should be that club for people, where we can come, where everyone can come gather and have talks and do activities together, and have people you could bond with. And that’s the main goal, and that will always be our goal,” Khetwani said.
She added that the sense of belonging extends beyond just the Indian community.
“We have had people who are not just Indian. We have also had people from different areas, and we are proud to call ICA something that has touched a lot of people and has connected people and brought everyone together,” Khetwani said.
Sivalenka said that for her, ICA has become a place to meet new people and unwind after a long and busy day on campus.
“It’s about celebrating our culture,” Sivalenka added. “But at the same time, [it’s about] just getting to know people and finding a community where you can just talk about anything.”
Editor’s note: This article was updated at 9:30 p.m. Oct. 24 to clarify SGA’s work to improve DEI efforts is internal. Also, there are several club statuses that allow for SGA funding.
