DIWALI LIGHTS UP NEW YORK

Fifteen years ago, Ms Anjula Acharia hosted an intimate Diwali party with about 40 guests in her apartment in Manhattan's Tribeca neighbourhood in New York.

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She wanted to invite her friends to celebrate the Hindu festival of lights - also known as Deepavali which she grew up observing with her family in Buckinghamshire, England, a suburb north-west of London.

Ms Acharia, an entrepreneur who manages Indian actress Priyanka Chopra, has organised the party almost every year since, usually in her apartment or at a friend's house.

In 2019, she brought it to The Pierre hotel in New York.

Now called the All That Glitters Diwali Ball, the event is a glamorous affair and one of the most visible Diwali gatherings in the United States, filled with pre-eminent South Asian musicians, politicians, fashion designers and business executives.

"It's just become bigger and better," Ms Acharia said, noting that five years ago, she struggled to find sponsors for decor and food. "Now, we've had a battle for sponsors." On Oct 12, about 300 guests descended a grand staircase in The Pierre in their most elegant South Asian attire - some in bedazzled lehengas - and into the party where Punjabi tracks played from the stereo.

American comedian Hasan Minhaj posed for photos with Canadian actress Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and Pakistani-American singer-songwriter Ali Sethi chatted with American actress Avantika Vandanapu, who starred in 2024's Mean Girls film.

Minhaj, Ramakrishnan and Vandanapu were among the hosts for the night.

Ms Acharia said it was important to assemble a host committee that reflected the diversity of the roughly two billion people of South Asian descent around the world.

"Pre-partition, before we were broken up by the British, my mum tells me that everybody celebrated Diwali," Ms Acharia said about the holiday, which will be observed for the first time by New York City public schools on Nov 1.