Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights, was celebrated this past weekend in the brightly decorated atrium of the Ho Science Center.

Members of the campus community filled the atrium for the Saturday night event, which was organized by the Hindu Student Association (HSA).

William Skelton, who took generations of Colgate students on the India Study Group that he created and who founded the Colgate Concert Orchestra, passed away Sept. 23.

Skelton, Robert Ho Professor of Asian studies and professor of music emeritus, joined the Colgate faculty in 1954 as a music professor. He directed the chamber band, 65-voice glee club, chapel choir, and marching band.

Ask Ajay Chahar '12 where he is from, and he'll say, "Colgate."

That's partly because he is so excited about being a first-year student, and partly because he's lived in so many cities in his native India that he doesn't know which to call home. His father is an army colonel, and Chahar moved with him from post to post.

While he has traveled throughout India, learning five languages from Bengali to Punjabi in the process, he never had the opportunity to travel beyond the region.