Celebrating Navratri is something everyone should experience. The whole room was moving up and down, forwards and backwards like waves breaking on a beach as everyone danced the Garba. Like gears in a clock, an overwhelming view of color and motion as circles of people orbited around other circles of people around the shrine in the center, like planets rotating about themselves and the sun at the same time. Hundreds of people following each other and they danced around the room. Oh the poor people who had to follow me. They eventually gave up in polite frustration and jumped ahead.
We formed a giant circle, two concentric circles for the Raas, the dandia dance. Yes, we banged dandias (sticks) together like swords and in a short pattern and kept rotating partners. Banging dandias with people of all ages, from 3 to 60 or more, is a great way to break the ice with a lot of people since you have to stare face to face as you coordinate the movements and rotate to the next partner.
People from all backgrounds were represented. Although most people were Indian or of Indian descent, people with backgrounds or from Asia, Africa, Europe, and local Americans were there too. Just in our group of seven there were people from Estonia, India, Africa (not sure which country), and the US. I even ran into some of my Indian co-workers who I think were more surprised to see me than I was to see them.
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