a first for garba

welcome to introspection ft. harsehaj! ⭐️ i’m harsehaj, a 19 y/o always up to something in social good x tech.

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onto today’s topic: a first for garba 🥢 

i just went to my first garba night, and it was a blast.

i’m part of the sangam (south asian club) executive team at my school as we’ve been gearing up for a successful garba night for the past few weeks. the effort definitely paid off because there were a lot of people (500+), dancing and laughter.

briefly, garba is a traditional dance originating from the state of gujarat in india. it’s typically performed during the festival of navratri, a nine-day hindu celebration in honour of the goddess durga. the dance is performed in a circular pattern with varying dance speeds/complexity (the inner-most generally danced by those with more experience).

i’m a sikh-punjabi myself, so i’ve never really had the chance to go to garba (despite my best friend literally being gujarati… no hard feelings though 😇). the style of dance felt foreign to me initially and i was a little intimidated until the circle of 5 turned into 50 and then turned into 500. nobody cared about dancing precisely — it was more about having a good time which i appreciated.

i ended up getting the hang of it too which was satisfying. 😁 dressed head to toe in traditional attire, eating samosas and drinking mango lassi, and seeing the vibrant culture reflected all around me drew me closer to my own roots once more — it’s all so rich.

i’m excited for next year’s garba.

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