Over 4k Attend Central Jersey Garba Celebration

The Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central Jersey (IACFNJ) Navratri Garba was a grand success with an overwhelming record number of people attending the event in South Brunswick.  

More than 4,000 people attended the Garba event with superb management by the IACFNJ organizers.  IACFNJ committee members and the volunteers continued to work very hard to have two more days of celebration on Oct. 18 and 19, at South Brunswick High School which marked the celebration of Sharad Purnima.   

The Navratri celebration marks the festival of nine nights during which Hindus worship Goddess of Shakti Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.  Hindus believe Goddess Durga destroys all the evil propensities lurking the minds of her devotees, Goddess Lakshmi implants divine qualities in the devotee’s minds and Goddess Saraswati bestows true knowledge to her devotees.  

The tenth day also known as Vijay Dashami, commemorates the victory of good over evil. IACFNJ Garba has been very popular among young generation of Indian Americans in South Brunswick and surrounding areas of highly populated South Asians in North Brunswick, Franklin Park, Princeton, Princeton Junction, Monroe, East Brunswick and East and West Windsor.   

Once again, famous group of Mahesh Mehta and his talented singers from Bollywood and local singers and artists of Entertainment Unlimited rocked the stage with famous old and new live singing of garbas, dandiya tunes, and famous sanedo for non-stop live entertainment for more than six hours on Oct. 5, 11 and 12.  The cultural diversity was very prominent on the Garba floor where boys and girls and men and women from all age groups performed various traditional garbas and raas in their traditional colorful and designer outfits.  

In addition, Central Jersey’s cultural diversity was witnessed on the dance floor where the attendees were not only Guajarati’s, but from all over India and surrounding regions.  It is very rare to see such a diverse, ethnic and cultural unity under one roof to celebrate traditional festival of India in a foreign country.  

The Goddess Amba Maa’s divine and traditional Aarti was performed and attended by thousands at midnight and sweets and dry fruits Prasad was distributed to all attendees. The center stage was decorated with Goddess Amba Maa’s statue in a temple setting to have the atmosphere felt like divine and traditional celebration like back home in Gujarat.  

The cafeteria had authentic Indian food stall of various mouth-watering Indian delicacies and other variety of food at reasonable prices. The local business entrepreneurs Sunil Nayak and Pinakin Pathak, community leaders and South Brunswick Deputy Mayor Chris Killmurray attended the event to wish everyone a Happy Navratri.  

Killmurray congratulated the IACFNJ's dedicated committee members for organizing such a wonderful event in South Brunswick. The best costume and best dance prizes were given to the winners on all three days which was sponsored by local business Fashion Unlimited from North Brunswick.  

The Grand Sponsors were awarded with a wonderful gift basket of traditional Indian puja items as token of appreciation for their continued support to IACFNJ and their community involvement. 

The IACFNJ dedicated and enthusiastic Executive committee, Trustees,  committee members and volunteers under the leadership of President Tushar Patel, Chairman Mahesh Patel, Vice-President Hitesh Patel, Secretary Deven Patel and Treasurer Mac Shah continued to work very hard throughout the celebration.  

For further information about the event, please contact Tushar Patel at 848-391-0499, Mac Shah at 848-667-0745 or Hitesh Patel at 732-718-5238 or visit organization website at www.IACFNJ.org or e-mail at iacfnj@yahoo.com.          

--IACFNJ