Club Spotlight: Exeter Subcontinent Society

By AMANI SHETTY and KAI GOWDA

Every Wednesday, from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., a mix of students pour into EPAC Club Room A. The smell of savory samosas and the blasting vibrant Bollywood music fills the room while Exonians socialize together.

Subcontinent Society, or Subcont for short, is a club for South Asians to interact and engage in cultural activities with fellow peers. 

“The word SubContinent refers to an area of South Asia that covers a variety of different countries. These countries are India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Pakistan. The SubContinent Society here at Exeter is an affinity space for South Asians, while also serving as a cultural club to non-South Asians on campus. We host events, discussions and overall, just enjoyable meetings for members to stop by. We want to provide a space for people to be comfortable and be amongst others with similar backgrounds, cultures, and values,” cohead Izyaan Burney said. 

The coheads of Subcont include senior Advay Nomula, snioer Nupur Malhotra, senior Eamin Ahmed, upper Siri Bompelli, and lower Izyaan Burney, along with the club advisor, Instructor in Religion Hina Muneeruddin.

“I joined Subcont Society because I wanted to be in community with others culturally similar to me, and learn more about my culture,” said Nomula. 

“I joined Subcontinent Society because I wanted to be able to connect with people of similar backgrounds and cultures,” Burney also expressed.

At Subcont, many students have connected through shared loves for food, culture, games, and music. 

“I’ve formed personal relationships at Subcont, a lot of my friends were some of the first people I met at the club during my prep year,” said Burney. 

“I’ve formed a stronger connection with those who’ve been brought up like me and look like me, and have found that we are very similar in some ways and very different in others. It’s definitely a form of grounding I have on this campus, which is something important and Exeter,” echoed Nomula. 

Upper Aveen Burney also explained how she has established “many relationships with people I would have never, I have also gotten to know a lot of entertaining lowerclassmen due to the club, and I consider them my younger siblings.”

The community has remained very friendly, welcoming, and warm. “The community is pretty strong I’d say. The active community is a little smaller, but people do show up to the big events, and they’re very fun. Our meetings and events are always welcoming, and it’s important to note that we’re not an affinity space, but a cultural club, so anyone and everyone is welcome,” said Nomula.

The atmosphere of Subcont meetings varies by each meeting, from more lively dancing, to chilling while watching Indian Matchmaking. Meetings include a variety of different events, whether it be cultural activities or just bonding within the community. Nomula said, “Sometimes there’s an activity at a meeting, but a lot of times we might just talk or watch something. In the fall in spring we’ve had cricket and badminton meetings too. It’s a really relaxed environment. There are also special food meetings and other events, probably something special like that happens once a month.”

Being away from home and missing cultural cuisine is a struggle, so being a part of Subcontinent Society makes it possible to enjoy culture even from afar. Subcontinent Society hosts events where food is showcased to be enjoyed by everyone. Nomula said, “I really liked our pani puri stand at Relay for Life, it was fun to share the culture, and just felt like the epitome of the Subcontinent.”

Food brings people together, and as seen this year club attendance increases when food is offered. Burney said, “We just had our Maggi/ChatPatta ramen event a week and a half ago. My favorite event so far this year has been the Maggi/ChatPatta ramen event. We achieved the most club attendance in a while, hosting 40 students to some warm Maggi or ChatPatta ramen. It was great to connect with returning members, while also seeing new faces.”

Subcontinent society tries to host a variety of events throughout the year. Coming up the rest of this year are a variety of fun events. Nomula said, “Our next event is going to be a chapati/roti making night, possibly followed by a dance/karaoke night, movie night, and more in the spring. We also just got a carom board that we could do some tournament stuff with in the future. We have a lot of ideas floating around.” 

With such a large community, it can be hard to have everyone included within meetings, to do so larger scale events hope to be offered. Burney said, “Hopefully by the end of this term, or the start of the next, we are hoping to host a SubCont dance.”