The Houston Metro Area gets enlightened every year during the Navratri season. Navratri means “nine nights” and it symbolizes the victory of positivity, truth and goodness over evil.
VIBHA once again organized their Navratri Garba celebration at University of Houston (UH) on Saturday, October 5th 2019 in partnership with BRC International. The VIBHA – BRC Garba Night 2019 was attended by more than 1,500 people, from all age groups and cultural backgrounds. Event was attended and enjoyed by hundreds of university students from UH and Rice University as well.
The whirling dancers, clapping hands, distinct sound of dandiya sticks struck together, toe tapping music and people wearing vibrant colorful traditional attires marked the Navratri celebration at the VIBHA – BRC Garba Night 2019.
The event was completely sold out; the venue was changed to the biggest facility available with UH Recreation to accommodate more crowd at the last moment. The community response was very overwhelming and the organizers did an outstanding job to process everyone as quickly as possible, so everyone can enjoy their time to the fullest. The center stage was decorated with Goddess Amba Maa’s statue where the divine traditional aarti and prayers were performed. Rishabh and Kashmira Nayak rocked the stage with live singing of traditional garbas, raas, famous sanedo and Bollywood songs along with their musicians, assisted by Master of Ceremony Malikka Ghei. It was a spectacular evening full of fun, enthusiasm and energy with people not only having a ball dancing but also supporting Vibha’s social cause, i.e. celebrating for a better future of underprivileged children.
Amidst all the Navratri celebrations, Vibha volunteers and all event attendees had a moment of silence for fallen Harris County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal. In order to pay respect to Deputy Dhaliwal, Vibha volunteers wore turbans which was made possible by selfless volunteers from Kar Seva US.
To fulfill its commitment of helping local community in Houston, this year Vibha is helping a local project of ‘Camp Kesem at UH’ by donating an amount of $1500 towards supporting children through and beyond their parent’s cancer with innovative, fun-filled programs that foster a lasting community.
BRC International has been the Title Sponsor of Vibha Garba event since last few years. The event was also sponsored by JSW USA, Tara Energy, New York Life (Divyendu Singh) and Katy Premier League, and was supported by GlobalDesis, Namaskaar Entertainment, Godavari Restaurant, Khushboo Dance Group and The Purple Carriage. Vibha would like to thank its media partner, Namaste Radio (1050 AM), and Karthik Datta for his amazing photography. Vibha appreciates the support received from other non-profit organizations including AIDIndia, Kar Seva, BeTheMatch, FARA, Universal Door Meditation Center, ISKCON, and BANA who helped in making this event a grand success.
The very hardworking team of Vibha volunteers are very pleased with the way the crowd showed their interest and enthusiasm and are looking forward to next year’s event. Their goal is to bring a bigger and better show in 2020.
Vibha ( http://www.vibha.org) is a volunteer-driven non-profit organization whose mission is to educate, empower and enable every individual who wishes to make a positive difference in the life of the underprivileged child. Vibha’s volunteers from 25 action centers across the US and India are the organization’s cornerstone and the reason why Vibha is able to spend about 90 cents of every dollar raised on supporting projects. Vibha currently supports about 30 projects in India and the United States. A full list of the projects funded by Vibha can be viewed at http://projects.vibha.org/projects/.