Discovering Indian Culture in Cyprus

University of Nicosia, where Sunita is currently studying abroad.

by Sunita Dharani

When I first chose to study abroad in Cyprus this semester, my intent was to truly integrate myself into a culture so different from my own that I would be lost upon arrival, that I would be forced to socialize with the locals, walk in their shoes and look through their eyes.

Living in Houston, Texas for the past 15 years, I found myself torn between the American world and the South Asian world of my early years-and I was a stranger to both. Surprisingly, the first person I encountered in Cyprus was the head of maintenance at the University of Nicosia (where I would be studying), and he was Indian. Not only was he Indian, but he proceeded to introduce me to the other South Asian students studying in Nicosia. I had sought out a culture different from anything else I had experienced because I felt as an outsider; somehow, I found a second chance to explore my heritage in an unfamiliar setting.

I found myself not the sole Indian in my Greek language class; at the end of my row sat Nishamol, a young woman from Karela, who was studying law and business at the University. It was due to her encouragement that I attended my first meeting of the South Asian Society on campus, and quickly realized how completely out of my element I was. Days later, an advertisement for an Indian Film Festival on campus caught my eye; this would be my opportunity to gain insight into the Indian community here in Nicosia.

The Indian Film Festival was held with the cooperation of The Friends of Cinema Society and the High Commission of India in Nicosia from October 22 to the 30^th. Over the course of the two weeks, six films released within the past three years were shown-covering different genres of cinema from across the Indian subcontinent. I was surprised to see that the demographics of the University of Nicosia student population in general were eerily similar to that of Houston. Of the 3000-student population, roughly one-third are international students from China, Russia, Eastern Europe, Africa, India, and of course-the U.S.

Map of Cyprus in relation to the Mediterranean area.

Before the first film began, I found that a few of the students in attendance were also in some of my classes at University of Nicosia. One in particular, a Russian girl named Olga, was excitedly chattering away at how much she looks forward to the film festival. “Every year, they have this. Lots of Indian movies that are funny, some are sad, and all of them are beautiful,” she told me. Looking around, numerous families from the Indian community were in attendance, but over half the audience comprised of Cypriot locals and others from Western Europe. After speaking with a few of them, the consensus appeared to be that Indian culture is perhaps the most “colorful,” “lively,” and “joyful,” and Indian films are the best way to take a look at what the culture holds. Oh, and Europeans absolutely love Bollywood.

Movie poster for Iqbal, a movie featured at the film festival.

The festival ranged from films about a deaf-mute cricket player (Iqbal), to a murder mystery (Raam), and even one featuring the community of Karela and its struggle to become a modern city (Drishtantham). Perhaps the biggest turnout of the festival was also the least surprising-the screening of 2005′s Paheli-a story of a ‘riddle’ involving the supernatural and a woman’s quest for true love. Considering the influence of Bollywood in culture in the States, it is no shock that not only was the theatre full, but it quickly became a “standing room only” situation. While Paheli‘s plotline is based on a rural fable, thereby unconventional to Bollywood standards, the originality it brought to a classic love story made it the most enjoyable for the crowd. I watched the audience far more than the movie itself, as people in the crowd nodded their heads to the music, children stared in amazement at the dancing, and cheers erupted as the movie finished.

Indian cinema may be known for its use of lavish costuming and jewelry to rival a night at the Oscars, its variations of the “boy-meets-girl” love story, and of course-who can forget the epic musical variety shows found in one three-hour feature? However, the festival ended with a film that I had neither seen nor heard of. Titled Uttarayan: A Journey to the Other Side, the Marathi film approaches a topic that is otherwise ignored or held as taboo in Indian culture: unrequited love in the golden years of life. While the actors are recognizable from Bollywood-Neena Kulkarni, most recently in Guru, and Shivaji Satam of Nayak fame-the fact that the entire film is in Marathi with English subtitles made the movie-watching an entirely different cultural experience as well. A young Indian couple, who had come to watch the film with their five-year-old daughter, told me that living in a far more Westernized culture than India had opened their eyes from the limited world-view they previously held. The woman spoke in sadness as she recounted her father’s loneliness after her mother had passed away; “I always wished he had found someone else to spend the rest of his life with, someone who kept him happy. It doesn’t matter how old you are, everyone needs a companion.” Those words became a resounding-and defining-moment from festival.

Ariel view of the city Nicosia in Cyprus.

After the end of the film, the president of The Friends of Cinema Society appeared on stage to thank everyone for attending, and as I looked out into the audience, I realized that the bilateral relationship between India and Cyprus extends beyond that of an annual film festival, or even the various trade and political agreements that tie the two countries together. Rather, the various communities of South Asians who have settled here in Cyprus, on their way to improving their lives and education, have joined together to create a culture not much different from the South Asian communities in Houston, or elsewhere in the U.S. Celebrations-from Diwali to Eid-are held even here on this island in the middle of the Mediterranean, and Indians work in the Cypriot infrastructure as professors and doctors, recent graduates in software and design. For a few days in the fall, the community joins together to not only revisit the more popular aspect of their culture, but to open their world to the rest of the people living here (Cypriots and Americans alike) and perhaps welcome these outsiders as they have been.

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