Navratri Garba Runs to Packed Houses in Katy

KATY: Katy Indian Cultural Association (KICA) with volunteers Partha Krishnaswamy, Ritu Morarka, Jayani Parikh, Anamika Kale, Tushar Desai and Purvi Dhutia pull off their first two-day Garba on 16 and 17 October running full houses. Due to the excessive turn out in 2014, the committee decided that it was essential to give greater opportunity to the growing Katy residents and therefore the two-day Garba was being realized. Although the team was hopeful of holding the event both days at Merrell center, due to logistical difficulties, they had to settle with holding the Friday event at the new Tompkins high school. Thanks to the support from the Katy residents all pre-event tickets were sold out five days before the event. The limited amount of tickets at the venue vanished within minutes.

The music and sound system was provided by Krishna Sounds for both days. Kashmira Nayak’s mellifluous singing along with Badal was apt for the event. Darshak Thackkar on the drums let the entire audience dance vigorously to the beats. This event would not have been possible without the support of our sponsors specially Memorial Hermann with their continued patronage as the Gold Sponsor for the event.

The added flavor this year were the two significant raffle prizes given away by the sponsors. One was a 3 night – 4 day Dubai stay package for the best dressed and best dancing male and female. Although this served as a stimulus for better performance, it became a difficult one to judge as the participants were so many and overly enthusiastic resulting in multiple level judging until almost the end of the Dandia Raas. Keval Gala and Soni Pathan were the well-deserved recipients of these packages. The other significant raffle was for a Samsung TV each day of the event given away by another sponsor.

With the support and encouragement received, the committee hopes to continue to persuade the KISD to allow a two day event at the Merrell center to allow greater participation.