Indian Cultural Awareness Club hosts first Garba at school

Photo by Sandeep Muju

Students and parents learn Flash Mob dances at Garba.

The school’s large gym hummed with the energy of 400 students and parents celebrating the Hindu holiday Garba on the evening of Oct. 8. 

Garba is a traditional Gujarati holiday, focusing on garba dances and dandiya portions. The event was split into two parts: First were the garba dances, where participants danced in a circle around the Goddess Amba, who was the centerpiece. After students and parents had dinner, the event resumed with more garba and dandiya — a stick dance with partners. 

About $12,000 in revenue was raised from sales of 400 tickets, priced at $30 per person, according to Indian Cultural Awareness Club (ICAC) officers. The cost of the ticket covered dinner from Chaat Bhavan, paying the DJ and custodial staff and purchasing decorations. Still, some of the funds were conserved in order to be donated. The officers said a specific charity hasn’t been chosen yet, but all total donations will be made later in the year with profits from all of their events, including Bombay in the Bay.

The ICAC officers this year are seniors Anand Agarwal, Risha Desai, Avani Gupta, Isha Jagadish, Annika Muju, Varun Shah and Ojas Somani. In addition to the traditional Garba dances, there was also a Flash Mob dance taught by the Toga Tamasha team and other members in charge of setting up the event. 

“The BNB officers and parents planned the flash mob,” Somani said. “My sister and I had done a flash mob for other Garba events so the officers thought it would be a good idea to include it in the event program.”

Planning the event itself required a large time commitment from the officers and their parents. The event had been proposed for four years to ICAC, but had been rejected until this year. The club spent around two months planning the event.

Setting up for garba required Muju and other officers to spend significant time preceding the event setting up. The officers said that scheduling conflicts with a band competition made it hard for some students to help set up, a challenge they overcame.

Afterward, ICAC officers agreed that the only problem was that the gym wasn’t big enough and a larger venue would work better.

Though Garba is a holiday usually celebrated by Hindus, the officers were excited to see a wide variety of the community in attendance.

Although the majority of Garba focused on cultural dances like dandiya, the event turned into a school-dance-style mosh pit at the end, with the exception that popular Bollywood songs were playing instead.

“Garba has always been a celebration of community and unity,” Somani. “It helps the Saratoga community get a lot closer not only to Indian culture but to each other.”