Navaratri in Baroda

5,000 people, cholis, garba, and action... what do you get when you put 5,000 people -not under one roof, but on top of the same field. What do you get when colorful cholis and kurtas twist in circles as the souls within the garba fanatics are mesmerized by the music. When speed and crowd are ever present... You get Navaratri celebration in United Way of Baroda!

Old videos of previous years 

                                         one of the best- Tara naam ni chundari oodhi

This was the 1st day of Navaratri, and my firs time doing garba during Navaratri in Vadodara (aka Baroda) after 15 years! We left to go to garba barefoot. Taking shoes=bad idea. There is no place to put 5000+ people's shoes. My cousin and I cruised on her scooty in our chaniya cholis. What a ride! Nice breeze, yet back pain! We parked the scooty with all the other two-wheelers and walked about 20-25 minutes to the actual ground. It was much further down the road. That was the warm up. Then first round of garba ended when we reached there, so we walked around trying to find her friends for 20 minutes more. Finally, her friend spotted her, and we met up. Then after the aarti, garba started once again. This time, I was dancing, one of the thousands of garba lovers under one roof-the night sky and festive atmosphere. I felt in heaven when Tara Vina Shyaam started playing- I could not believe I was in India, in Vadodara, my birthplace, dancing to my most favorite garbo in the universe in the name of God. Then the music changed, and the step got awkward for me. Overall, it was fun, but I miss the variety of steps we do during garba in USA. There, we have less people than India obviously (it is still crowded though!), so we add a lot of variety and we can switch whenever we want to different steps or lines unlike here. Also, in USA, I can meet up with my friends and people I haven't seen for so long. Here, I don't have as many personal connections, but the most important connection is my connection with God.When everyone unites in name of God, then 1000s of people can feel like family.

I will make a separate post about traffic later. It deserves a post of its own~ my my! Right now, it is 2am, and I am super tired.

Brief synopsis of Navaratri (in my definition and what it means to me as it is all about finding meaning yourself to connect with nature and God)..there is google search for other definitions:
   Navaratri is a festival that is celebrated for 9 days. It is celebrated in honor of Durga mata or Amba mata. Amba mata represents inner power and strength (shakti). An idol is placed in the center of the garba ground, and people encircle it while dancing rhythmically to traditional garba music. The circle around the idol or picture of the Goddess symbolizes God-centric life. The circles formed symbolize connection to one another, and the continuous dancing barefoot on sand with one thing after another poking you, people crowding and pushing their way through, mouth dryer than the desert, sweat pouring down clothes and face-yet the lines in the circles keep moving to the tunes- that my friends, symbolize following the tune of life despite all obstacles persevering.The 10th day is Dassera (dus means 10). Dassera is when the demon Ravan was defeated by Lord Ram. It is a symbolism of good vs. evil, righteousness over egoistic and materialistic nature that Ravan possessed.

 Dance, dance, and just dance. Dancing is expression of the soul. It is the water to thirst, anti-septic to wounds, love to hearts, and ATP to mitochondria. Okay, literally speaking, it is the dopamine and serotonin to my brain which is making me write all of this and not feel the sourness that is there in my body without me sensing it! Now, that is dancing..