LAST SATURDAY, AROUND 200 NORTHWESTERN STUDENTS GATHERED IN THE LOUIS ROOM TO DANCE THE NIGHT AWAY. THE DRAW OF THE NIGHT WAS GARBA: AN INDIAN TRADITION FEATURING A CIRCULAR COMMUNITY DANCE.
HOSTED BY NORTHWESTERN’S SOUTH ASIAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION, OR SASA, GARBA KICKED OFF NAVRATRI, A NINE-DAY HINDU FESTIVAL DEDICATED TO DURGA, THE FEMININE FORM OF DIVINITY.
IN ADDITION TO PROVIDING A FUN WAY FOR THE NORTHWESTERN SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY TO CONNECT, SASA CO-PRESIDENT AND MEDILL SOPHOMORE NIKI GUMMADI SAYS THAT THEY WANTED TO HIGHLIGHT THE RELIGIOUS ASPECT OF GARBA.
[NIKI GUMMADI] An important part of this was—this year, we’ve been trying to work a lot more like in tandem with our RSL offices—that’s religious student life. So we’ve been trying to work a lot more with them so we talked to Chaplain Amer, who’s the Hindu chaplain on campus, and he helped us out with sort of just the planning and he spoke a little bit at the beginning about the importance of Garba and he helped us do a small religious ceremony for anyone that wanted to join in.
MANY STUDENTS PARTOOK IN THE ARTI, A HINDU CEREMONY INVOLVING WAVING LIGHTED WICKS IN FRONT OF THE IMAGES OF IMPORTANT HINDU DEITIES AND RECITING A PRAYER.
HOWEVER, BALANCING THE RELIGIOUS TRADITION WITH THE LIVELY SOCIAL BACKGROUND PROVED DIFFICULT. SUNNY BATRA, A FIRST-YEAR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING MAJOR, WAS FRUSTRATED CROWD’S LACK OF ATTENTION TO CHAPLAIN AMER AS HE INTRODUCED AND LEAD THE ARTI.
[SUNNY BATRA] People were not really being respectful at all during the prayer and that was like, kind of annoying to me, like, during the prayer. People were like talking over the guy and like, weren’t paying attention at all.
AFTER AN HOUR OF CHATTING, EATING, AND PRAYER, STUDENTS VENTURED INTO THE CIRCLE TO BEGIN THE DANCE. NEWBIES AND RETURNERS ALIKE WERE WELCOME TO DANCE, LEAD BY THE NORTHWESTERN RAAS TEAM. THE RAAS TEAM COMPETES NATIONALLY IN BOTH GARBA AND RAAS—CONCENTRIC DANCE STYLES THAT EMERGED FROM GUJARAT, INDIA.
[NK]: Every single year we have members of the Raas team, help, like, start the circles, which I think is always really important because not, uh, not everyone knows what it is, not everyone has been to one. I hadn’t been to one because Garba is mostly a North Indian thing and I’m South Indian, so I had never been to one until I came to college, and so I think that’s also a really important part—is just like making sure everybody feels welcome.
THE NIGHT FEATURED THREE DIFFERENT DANCE SECTIONS: GARBA, DANDIYA RAAS, AND BOLLYWOOD. STUDENTS DANCED ALL TOGETHER DURING THE GARBA SECTION BEFORE GRABBING DANDIYA STICKS AND BREAKING OFF INTO SMALLER CIRCLES TO PERFORM THE PARTNER-BASED DANCE. AFTER RETIRING THE DANDIYA STICKS, EVERYONE CIRCLED UP ONCE AGAIN TO CLOSE THE NIGHT WITH A LIVELY BOLLYWOOD DANCE.
[NK] My favorite part of the night, it’s always the Bollywood section. I think that’s kind of everyone’s favorite part of the night, because, at least for—for me, from the planning side of things, it’s like, okay, like it’s the end the night, I can see the event went well, like everyone’s having fun, but then it’s always fun because, like, everyone on board sort of like gets to dance together. Like, um, like celebrate the event, like, going well—but yeah, it’s always fun seeing everyone get their friends involved and stuff like that.
WITH GARBA OVER, SASA HAS BEGUN PREPARATIONS FOR DIWALI, THE HINDU FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS. THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS IS THE HIGHLIGHT OF DIWALI, A FIVE-DAY-LONG CELEBRATION OF THE TRIUMPH OF GOOD OVER EVIL. FALLING THIS YEAR ON NOVEMBER 12TH, THE THIRD DAY OF DIWALI, THE FESTIVAL LIGHTS, IS A DAY OF DECORATIONS, GIFTS, FESTIVE MEALS, AND MERRIMENT, OFTEN CAPPED OFF WITH FIREWORKS. THIS YEAR, SASA HAS PLANNED A DAY FULL OF CELEBRATION FOR THE NORTHWESTERN COMMUNITY.
[NK] So the idea is we’ll have like a whole school-wide back to Diwali celebration. So chaplain Amer, again, is going to help us out. He’s going to do a puja, which is a religious ceremony in McCormick Auditorium, so everyone’s welcome to come to that, and then we’ll have some dance performances that everyone is welcome to come to. And then to end the night, we’ll have a Diwali banquet, which we have every year. And this year, we’re going to do diya painting. So, diyas are like the little candle holders, and Diwali is the Festival of Lights, so diyas are pretty important around that time of year—and I think it will be a cute, fun activity for everyone to do.
STUDENTS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE DIWALI CELEBRATION TO CONNECT WITH THE SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY, HONOR THE HINDU GODS, AND, OF COURSE, EAT GOOD FOOD.
[GABBY SHELL] Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to?
[SN] Um, probably more of the food. It’s always good to, like, have some type of South Asian food because, obviously, we don’t get that much here.
