Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central Jersey – IACFNJ kicked-off Navratri Garba 2016

Indo-American Cultural Foundation of Central Jersey - IACFNJ kicked off their Grand Navratri Garba celebration in South Brunswick on October 1, 7 and 8, 2016, at Cross Roads South Middle School, 195 Major Road in Monmouth Junction, New Jersey. The last two days of Garba to celebrate Sharad Poornima will be held on October 14 and 15, 2016, where renowned singer Manish Sawla and key-board player Brij Joshi will perform to mark the celebrations of Sharad Poornima. 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 gymnasium at the Middle School in South Brunswick in a highly secured environment. 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. More than 5000 people attended three days of raas-gaba to celebrate Hindu’s religious and cultural festival. The response was so overwhelming that the organizers had to shut the door early due to maximum numbers allowed in the gym on October 8, 2016. For the past many years, IACFNJ Garba has been one of the biggest, non-commercial and family oriented, safest and well organized state of the art garba event in the state. 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, dandiya, famous sanedo and bhangaras 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. South Brunswick Councilman Charlie Carley and Joseph Camarota, Jr., New Jersey’s 16th Legislative District Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, South Brunswick School Board Members Azra Baig and Deven Patel were among the special guests who attended the event. 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 Mahesh Patel and Dr. Tushar Patel, Secretary Deven Patel, Treasurer Mac Shah, Joint Secretary Deep Shukla, Joint Treasurer Rajesh Patel, Trustees Raoji Patel, Rewo Nawani, Jadhav Chaudhari and the entire committee and volunteers worked very hard to make this event a grand success once again. For further information about the event, please visit organization web site at www.IACFNJ.org or e-mail at iacfnj@yahoo.com.