Every year, my friends and I look forward to mid-October, not only because of the Red Sox playoff games and the start of football season but also for the nine nights of Navratri. It may seem odd that high school students look forward to yet another cultural event to addto their seemingly endless list of weekend activities. However; garba is one event that I will always find time for. Before the season starts, I call up or instant message all my Indian friends, asking them which garbas they plan toattend and together we plan our garba schedule. We end up attending so many,that I rarely have a free moment during the weekends of October.

I am lucky to live in Massachusetts, an area that has a very active Indian community. A large community, such as ours, offers many garbas and other cultural events that youth can attend. One such organization, Gurjar, organizes 4 nights of garba during Navratri. These events draw large crowds from all over New England and the gyms in which they are held often reach maximum capacity within a few hours. Last Saturday, my friends and I attended one of the ‘Gurjargarbas’ at McCarthy Middle School in Chelmsford, MA. The gym quickly filled with both young and old alike and we all danced the night away to the rhythmic beats provided by the live band, Dhamaka Raja. Many people, including myself, dressed in colorful and vivid traditional Indian clothing. The whole gym camealive as the loud music permeated the gym and the people danced in traditional garba and raas formations.

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