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Confluence of traditions: A&M students celebrate Lunar New Year, Lent, Ramadan Religious, cultural observances coincide in Aggieland By Tejas Murali Life & Arts Writer

Photos by Theresa Lozano — THE BATTALION

Top to bottom: Supply chain management senior Neharika Vajinapalli and electronic systems engineering technology senior Likitha Joneboina pose for a picture behind their cart at Aggie Park on Monday, March 2, 2026. Drinks made by supply chain management senior Neharika Vajinapalli and electronic systems engineering technology senior Likitha Joneboina at Aggie Park on Monday, March 2, 2026.

Heritage inspires fizzy fusion Student-run beverage cart brings culture to community

erages featured on Flavor Drop’s menu: dirty sodas, authentic Indian drinks and a combination of the two — Indian fusion dirty sodas with popular flavors from the region. Originally popularized in 2010 by Utah-based By Ava Whelan drink chain, Swig, the dirty soda craze has Life & Arts Writer quickly spread nationwide. Seeing the drink’s Behind a handmade cart, sodas fizz over rise in popularity, Vajinapalli said she noticed ice as vibrant fruit syrups and vanilla-cocoa gap for dirty soda in the local beverage marnut cream swirl together in colorful layers. ket in Bryan-College Station. The sweet scents of citrus, berries and spice Alongside dirty sodas, Flavor Drop’s menu hang in the air, as curious customers gather to also introduces customers to drinks commonwatch drinks be crafted by hand. ly enjoyed across India. Currently, the bevFlavor Drop is a specialty beverage cart feaerage cart offers chai — a blend of black tea, turing dirty sodas with a twist: Indian fusion spices and sugar topped with oat milk — and drinks and tea. After their soft launch in early Mumbai lime soda, a take on traditional NimFebruary, the business has appeared at local bu soda. pop-ups and events across Bryan-College “Within India, there are a lot of different Station, including the sodas, too,” VajinapalMcFerrin Center Stuli said. “One of them is dent Marketplace and the called Nimbu soda, also I want it to be more than just us making money because it was known as lime soda. So Rountree Market. Working behind the not about that. It was purely to do something together, but also Indian lemonade, but cart are electronic systems instead of the traditional to raise awareness of the authentic Indian style and flavors. engineering technology sweet taste, it’s definitely senior Likitha Joneboina more salty and sour but and supply chain manalso refreshing.” Neharika Vajinapalli agement senior Neharika For future menu drops, Supply Chain Management Senior and Flavor Drop Co-Owner Vajinapalli. Having met Vajinapalli revealed they through Aggie Entreprewant to introduce manneurs, the two quickly go lassi, a blended drink became business partners and friends, found- erything.” made with mangoes and yogurt, and falooda, ing Flavor Drop out of their shared love for While considering portability, the pair a dessert drink made with ice cream and rose. soda and their heritage. also wanted to draw parallels to their Indian However, Flavor Drop’s specialty lies in its “First, we wanted to make a joint business heritage, where Joneboina said it is common fusion of Indian drinks and dirty soda, which together,” Vajinapalli said. “Second, we’ve for vendors to sell their products from carts Vajinapalli said gives the cart a unique angle always wanted to mix our heritage, Indian or wagons. Vajinapalli elaborated on the im- in the wide and competitive soda market. Inculture and everything, with something that portance of first impressions, saying that a corporating flavors popular in India, such as we love, being food and drinks. There’s not cute, aesthetically pleasing cart could ease the guava, mango, lemon and lime, brings what really like any sort of soda place nearby. … uncertainty of those trying authentic Indian Vajinapalli described as a refreshing twist to We decided we would use our network to drinks for the first time. their menu. hop on to that and create Flavor Drop.” “In India, there are many people who sell “That’s where we bring in different syrAway from the cart, both owners run their [products] from carts or wagons,” Joneboi- ups,” Joneboina said. own individually creative businesses. Vaji- na said. “They walk around the streets, and napalli, a licensed nail technician running whenever people like what they see, they SCAN HERE TO READ Made2Polish, and Joneboina, a henna artist, come up and buy it. We wanted to keep that referred to themselves as “super entrepre- part authentic with it, too, but take a more FULL STORY ONLINE neurs” and said they wanted to work together aesthetic take on it.” to reach a broader audience. Joneboina discussed a blend of three bev-

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“We wanted to do something with food because it attracts everybody, all ages and types of people,” Joneboina said. “Since it’s not coffee or matcha, I feel like it’s even bigger of a market … it’s an all-day thing.” Flavor Drop operates out of a colorful handmade cart that is fully portable and collapsible, which Joneboina said makes transportation to pop-up events easier. One week of measurements, carpentry, painting and teamwork resulted in a homebase for their business to start operating from, a process Vajinapalli documented and recorded. “I pitched to [Vajinapalli], and she was like, ‘You’re crazy, but okay,’” Joneboina said. “That weekend, we went to Home Depot and bought wood. We actually built the whole cart ourselves, then painted it and ev-

On Feb. 27, Aggie Park was electrified with lanterns, traditional Asian performances, red envelopes as hundreds of students celebrated the arrival of what they hoped would be a fruitful new year. Elsewhere across campus, a group of Muslim students concluded their day-long fast for Ramadan with iftar, a meal taken in communion at sunset. Meanwhile, Catholic Aggies, many of whom wore a symbolic cross of ash on their forehead to commemorate Ash Wednesday, were beginning a 40-day season of almsgiving of their own leading up to Easter. This year, the start of the Asian Lunar New Year, the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and Ash Wednesday, the start of the Catholic Lent period, all fell within a day of each other, the former two having been observed on Feb. 17 and the latter on Feb. 18. This Lunar New Year marked the beginning of the Year of the Horse. Vietnamese Student Association, or VSA, Vice President of Operations and electrical engineering senior Cindy Luu considers the festival an important part of her life, one she grew up celebrating with her family. “Lunar New Year means the whole family coming over, cooking lots of food,” Luu said. “Growing up, I would have to wish people things, and older people would give you red envelopes and stuff. All those little traditions, hanging out with family, going up to markets to buy flowers or fruits and making the house look all nice, it makes me feel warm inside.” Lunar New Year also holds religious and symbolic significance for Luu, whose family is Buddhist and visits a Buddhist temple during the festival. Luu recalls performing the traditional lion dance on various stages to symbolize the warding off of evil spirits and occasionally bless local businesses. According to Luu, the community is the most enjoyable part of Lunar New Year, though it looked different this year celebrating it away from family and with peers in Aggieland instead. VSA hosted a Lunar New Year celebration at Aggie Park featuring various traditions, including the lion dance and martial arts performances, red envelopes and Vietnamese cuisine for attendees. “It felt kind of sad because I didn’t get to see my family, but it was also bittersweet because I got to celebrate with my friends and host a huge festival,” Luu said. “The festival, to me, had to be grand, had to be a place for people to find that home.” As a Vietnamese woman practicing Catholicism, Emma Nguyen ‘26 honors some Lunar New Year traditions such as dressing in traditional wear, attending mass delivered in Vietnamese and eating Vietnamese food with her family, while also observing the 40-day Lent period through fasting, almsgiving and prayer. “Because we’re observing the passion and the death of Christ, we abstain from eating meat on Fridays, which is the same day that he died,” Nguyen said. “People also take personal fasts, I know a lot of people will give up sweets. … I’ve given up on saying no to things that are hard. So for me, this Lent is focused on being able to say ‘Yes’ to hard things, even if I feel like I’m not good at it or I don’t like the feeling of discomfort.” Attendees of the Ash Wednesday mass received ashes on their foreheads, symbolizing the sins of humanity and the idea that humans are born of dust and will eventually return to it. Although it is not a Holy Day of Obligation, which is a mandatory observance for Catholics, many who have fallen away from their faith or have not practiced it for a while still come back to this simple tradition, according to Nguyen. “Being able to participate in these traditions alongside fellow Catholics my age, Catholics all around the world and Catholics in the past and knowing that we are all connected by the same faith is so beautiful to me,” Nguyen said. Nguyen believes that fasting has helped grow her relationship with Christ and pushed her to try new things, like learning Vietnamese and playing the guitar, despite the challenges these tasks have posed.

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