Ajay Nair comes to us all the way from Montana. As a freshman, Ajay participated in the annual Mayur Show, where participated in the All Boys Filmi dance number. Needless to say, it was awesome. Not only can Ajay dance, but he also has some serious vocal chords. Ajay is a part of Deewane, the all-male South Asian acapella group. By serving as event coordinator on the Mayur Board, Ajay hopes to bring some serious fun to this year’s social and cultural events.
Akshay Doshi seems like a simple, quiet kind of guy. But there is more than meets the eye! This sophomore business major really knows his stuff. He came to CMU all the way from India totally prepared to have fun, make a difference and be a part of a greater community. As the Vice President on this year’s board, Akshay hopes to play hard and party harder. As a freshman, Akshay dabbled in the theatrical arts by joining Scotch’n’Soda and participating in the skit portion of the Mayur Show. He is excited for this upcoming year, and he’s bringing all his best ideas to the table! Get ready!
Manisha Sashital is a sophomore Civil and Environmental Engineering major who hails from the great state of New Jersey. Don’t hate! Her involvement with MayurSASA started with the Mayur Show last year, where she performed in the classical dance number. Apart from being webmaster of MayurSASA, she also is heavily involved with environmental organizations on campus. Her future plans involve saving the rainforests and all its endangered inhabitants, fighting global climate change and making renewable energy a possibility for tomorrow. In other words, always recycle when she’s around.
Naina Saxena is a MayurSASA veteran. As an extremely involved member of MayurSASA since her freshman year, she has all the experience to show for it. Now as a junior business major, she will be serving as MayurSASA’s treasurer. Previously Naina was Philanthropy Chair for MayurSASA and Event Coordinator for Bhangra in the Burgh! Not to mention her countless other involvements, one such as International Relations Organization. This girl from Delhi is all about hard work, dedication and perseverance. Nevertheless, we are so thankful to have her on the board this year!
Nakul Bagla, also a sophomore, is MayurSASA’s second event coordinator. Nakul is an international student, coming to CMU all the way from India. But that didn’t stop Nakul from being an active member of the MayurSASA general body. Nakul is also a sophmore business adminstrations major, and therefore a proud member of the Tepper community. We are all excited to see creative and cooperative efforts of our two event coordinators. We are sure they are going to blow our minds!
Meet Pthaps, aka Prerana Thapur. You want to know her bio-data? Three things you should know about Prerana is that she is sweet, funny and knows all the lines to every song (Hindi, English...probably some other languages) and every movie ever created. When Prerana isn't wowing her peers with her vast musical and cinematic knowledge, she is a normal sophomore CMU girl who focuses on studying bio (her major) and being the best Philanthropy Chair MayurSASA has ever seen. Prerana also is an integral part of CMU’s South Asian fusion dance team, Tanah, and has been an active member of MayurSASA since her freshman year.
Radhika Koyawala is a junior Design major who ironically enough, serves as the design chair for MayurSASA. Having held the position last year as well, Radhika knows her position well, especially since she was the first Design chair ever in the history of Mayur and SASA who is actually a design major...Whoa! Being a design major, Radhika is used to working hard, sleeping a little and bringing her best to the table. In addition, Radhika is also probably the only design major you will ever meet, who is color blind. Crazy, right?
Sonali Shah is a fun and diligent individual. As a junior, Sonali will be serving as MayurSASA's Secretary for the second year in a row. She loves MayurSASA soo much that she actively participated in Booth her freshman year, and became Booth Chair her sophmore year. Needless to say, Sonali is extremely dedicated to our little organization. Outside of MayurSASA, Radhika serves an Undergraduate Student Senator.
Suraj Baxi. Well what can we say about this guy? If you don’t know him already, you will soon enough! Suraj is only a sophomore, and already he is Co-chair of Bhangra in the Burgh and President of MayurSASA! This is no ordinary feat. As soon as this business major hit CMU’s campus, he got himself involved it almost everything. Originally from New Jersey, Suraj is creative, dedicated and a natural leader. Under his presidency, MayurSASA hopes to pump up the energy by having more events, more activities and bigger venues. Suraj hopes this year will be a year of epic proportions for MayurSASA.
Mayur:South Asian Student Alliance began near the end of the 2006-2007 school year through the merger of two of CMU's long existing organizations, Mayur and SASA. It was in 1986, ‘MAYUR’ came into being, when a group of South-Asian students felt an urge to join together and engage in cultural and social activities. Cultural shows and social gatherings became more frequent, involving more and more students from campus.
Mayur has broadened its base, incorporating students from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other regions.
SASA, the South Asian Student Association, began in the late 1990s by a group of students looking for a more social organization for the growing South Asian population at Carnegie Mellon. The organization has thus made its name through the various large club parties throughout the year culminating with a huge Carnival party dubbed BlackLight.
Aside from just parties SASA also wished to engage the South Asian community through community service, banquets, and a Formal.
