Cultural diversity showcased at Navratri Garba 2015 in South Brunswick by Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central Jersey

PRESS RELEASE:

October 25, 2015

Cultural diversity showcased at Navratri Garba 2015 in South Brunswick by Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central Jersey –IACFNJ. More than 5,000 attended during first four days Garba on October 16, 17, 23 and 24, 2015. Last day of Garba will be to celebrate Sharad Poornima on October 31, 2015:

Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central Jersey - IACFNJ held their first four days out of five days three weekends of Navratri Garba in New Jersey’s most culturally and ethnically diverse township of South Brunswick. The Navratri 2015 were organized for five days of extravagant live singing and musical orchestra to play raas, garba and sanedo which was enjoyed by participants from three generations on the dance floor more than six hours with colorful outfits, chaniya choli and traditional Indian outfits with colorful kurta and pajamas. 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 held this year’s Garba in a state of the art gymnasium at Crossroads South Middle School in South Brunswick, NJ in a highly secured environment and culturally diverse neighborhood where South Asians are highly populated in surrounding towns of North Brunswick, Franklin Park, Princeton, Princeton Junction, Monroe, East Brunswick, Robbinsville and East and West Windsor. More than 5,000 people witnessed the celebration of Hindu’s religious and cultural festival of Maa Durga Navratri. For last five years, IACFNJ Garba has been the biggest, well organized and the most popular indoor Navratri Garba in New Jersey. Once again, the famous group of Mahesh Mehta and his talented singers from Bollywood and local singers and musicians of Entertainment Unlimited rocked the stage with famous old and new live singing of garbas, dandiya tunes, famous sanedo and bhangaras for non-stop live entertainment for more than six hours on all four days. This year’s attractions were two Bollywood musicians Pallav Pandya, Key-board player and Raju Kulkarni, dhol player who rocked the floor with their talented music. The live music on a beautifully decorated stage and talented musicians with their bits of drum, key board, guitar and live singing and high energy on dance floor were the highlights of the event. The participants of all ages and various culturally diverse residents from all over Central Jersey were seen on the dance floor to celebrate the richest cultural diversity in the State. The South Brunswick’s cultural diversity was once again witnessed on the dance floor where the attendees came from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds who were not only Gujaratis but from all over India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Shri Lanka and other neighboring countries and in some cases Chinese, Korean and Americans. The Goddess Amba Maa’s divine statue was placed in a beautifully decorated temple and traditional Aarti was performed on all four days followed by distribution of Prasad to all attendees. The cafeteria had food stalls of various mouth-watering and traditional Indian delicacies and desserts at reasonable prices which was additional convenience to the attendees. Local small businesses set up booths to display and sell traditional chaniya cholis and other outfits and costume jewelry.

The IACFNJ dedicated and enthusiastic Executive committee, Trustees and other committee members and volunteers under the leadership of President Hitesh Patel, Chairman Murthy Yerramilli, Vice-Presidents Dr. Tushar Patel and Mahesh Patel, Secretary Deven Patel, Treasurer Mac Shah, Joint Secretary Deep Shukla, Joint Treasurer Rajesh Patel, Trustees Raojibhai Patel, Rewo Nawani and Jadhav Chaudhary worked very hard to organize this event for record breaking attendance during the first four days. IACFNJ has been a pioneer in organizing cultural events throughout the year for more than a decade to bring the communities together and promote Indian culture, heritage and festivals in Central Jersey area. Spring Color Festival, India Independence Day, Summer Picnic and Holiday party are among the events IACFNJ has been organizing. The local business entrepreneurs, community leaders, local public officials and large number of Asian Indians attended the event to support IACFNJ community efforts to keep Indian culture and heritage alive in this country. The Gold Sponsors of this year’s event were Pinakin Pathak of OHM International and OHMkara in Monroe, Sunil and Vandana Nayak of InnZen Hospitality, Patel Cash and Carry/Patel Bros of North Brunswick, Vipul and Bindu Verma of State Farm Insurance and Rasoi III Restaurant in Dayton. Many other Silver and Bronze sponsors extended their support to show their commitment for this community event.

The last day of Garba will be held at South Brunswick High School on October 31, 2015, from 8:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. For further information about the event or advertisement and sponsorship or booth booking, please contact Dr. Tushar Patel at 848-391-0499, or Hitesh Patel at 732-718-5238 or Mac Shah at 848-667-0745 or visit organization website at www.IACFNJ.org or e-mail at iacfnj@yahoo.com.

Dr. Tushar Patel – 848-391-0499

Vice-President - IACFNJ