IACFNJ Garba was enjoyed by more than 7,000 in South Brunswick

Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central Jersey - IACFNJ once again organized their Grand Navratri Garba celebration on October 12, 13, 19 and 20, 2018, at Cross Roads South Middle School and South Brunswick High School in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey attended by more than 7,000 people. The Navratri celebration marked 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. Fun and enjoyment are the aspects of the festivals, which sets the festive mood. Navratri, as the name suggests, means nine nights. It is one of the most important Hindu festivals which dedicated to the worship of Goddess Durga, the deity of Power. Each day of the nine-day festival are dedicated to the worship of different forms of Goddess Durga, which unfolds the religious importance of the occasion.

IACFNJ held this year’s Garba in a state-of-the art gymnasiums at both venues in a highly secured environment where more than 6,000 people enjoyed the four days of colorful festivities to mark Hindu’s cultural and religious significance. South Brunswick and surrounding areas are culturally diverse neighborhood where South Asians are highly populated in surrounding towns of North Brunswick, Franklin Park, Princeton, Hightstown, Princeton Junction, Monroe, East Brunswick, Robbinsville and East and West Windsor. The community response was very overwhelming but the organizers did an outstanding job to process everyone as quickly as possible, so everyone can enjoy more than five hours of garba, raas and sanedo. For the past more than a decade, IACFNJ Garba has been one of the biggest, non-commercial and family oriented, safest and well organized state of the art garba event in New Jersey. Once again, famous group of Mahesh Mehta and his talented artists from Bollywood and local singers and musicians of Entertainment Unlimited rocked the stage with famous old and new live singing of traditional garbas, raas and famous sanedo with live entertainment for more than five hours. The participants from all age groups from all generations and all cultural backgrounds enjoyed the evenings in their colorful traditional costumes.

The cultural diversity of Central Jersey was witnessed at the event where the attendees from all regions of India and other neighboring countries became part of the celebrations. The special attraction of the event was participants from high school kids of various ethnic and cultural back grounds which rarely seen at any other Garba events in the country. The Goddess Amba Maa’s divine traditional Aarti and prayers were performed followed by the variety of prasad to all attendees. The center stage was decorated with Goddess Amba Maa’s statue in a temple setting where the atmosphere felt like divine and traditional Navratri celebration like back home in India. The cafeteria had wonderful, delicious and various mouth-watering and traditional Indian delicacies as well as other local vendors with various clothing, jewelry and traditional items booths which added convenience and attractions to the attendees.

The local business entrepreneurs, community leaders, local and state public officials and large number of Asian Indians attended the celebration to support IACFNJ community efforts to keep Indian culture and heritage alive in the state. United States Senator from New Jersey Robert Menendez, Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) outreach Director for Senator Amit Jani, South Brunswick Mayor Charlie Carley, Deputy Mayor Joe Cammarota, Councilwoman Ann Grover, Middlesex County Freeholder Shanti Narra, South Brunswick School Board Members Barry Nathanson, Azra Baig and Deven Patel and Councilman at large from Piscataway Township Kapil Shah were among the special guests who attended the event. For the first time in the history of IACFNJ Garba event, South Brunswick School Superintendent Scott Feder and Assistant Superintendent Jennifer Diszler attended the event and they were extremely impressed to see the cultural diversity and enthusiasm at the event. The IACFNJ dedicated and enthusiastic Executive committee, Trustees and other committee members and volunteers under the leadership of President Dr. Tushar Patel, Chairman Hitesh Patel, Vice Presidents Mahesh Patel and Deven Patel, Secretary Mac Shah, Treasurer Rajesh Patel, Joint Secretary Surabhi Agarwal and Trustees Raoji Patel, Rewo Nawani, Jadhav Chaudhari, Murthy Yerramilli and the entire committee and volunteers worked very hard to make this event a grand success once again. For further information about future events, please visit organization web site at www.IACFNJ.org or e-mail at iacfnj@yahoo.com.