Dancers circle joyously around one another, laughing and cheering as music flows through the air, dancing in celebration of the Hindu goddess Durga.
The OU India Student Association held its annual Garba on Friday. Garba is a celebration of traditional Gujarati folk dance, held at OU to embrace cultural heritage and build a strong community on campus. For Smruti Patel, India Student Association internal co-president, Garba is her favorite time of year.
“I come from a background that celebrates this every year so I grew up on this,” Patel said. “When it's Garba time, it just feels like home.”
Traditionally, Garba involves dancing in a circle around the goddess’s statue well into the night. However, India Student Association opted to remove the celebration’s religious element to create an inclusive space for all those who took part.
Aniketh Koneru, India Student Association internal vice president, said events like Garba offer opportunities for people to connect with their culture away from home, especially if they are international or out-of-state students.
“For a lot of our students, they don't get to go back home to India where they would typically be able to celebrate this with their family and friends,” Koneru said. “We created an event for students so they don't have to drive long distances, or take a 2,000-mile flight to celebrate.”
Though the celebration is not held in India, Patel said she hopes that international students find comfort in having a place to connect with their culture and heritage.
“It’s about making a home away from home for the international students to celebrate (Garba),” Patel said. “They can come out here, and it might not be the same thing, but at least we can try to recreate something for them.”
For Koneru and others in attendance, an important part of Garba is coming together as a community and celebrating together.
“When you walk around and see people smiling, you can't help but just smile yourself and then dance with random strangers,” Koneru said. “Even though my legs and back are taken out the next day, I love being around the energy and compassion.”
With almost 200 people in attendance at the OU celebration, Patel said Garba is a special holiday for all who are a part of the association. Dancing in the Gujarati side-to-side style is essential to the festival, which Patel said is nostalgic for her.
“My mom taught it to me, and ever since then we've always played Garba together since I was little,” Patel said.
Koneru said it’s important to attend events like Garba because the opportunity to experience culturally diverse celebrations while in college is something that can't be replicated after graduation.
“You're never going to get these experiences (again), especially when you go into the workforce,” Koneru said. “There won’t be opportunities to explore these types of communities or cultural events so do it in college while you can.”
This story was edited by Anusha Fathepure and Ismael Lele. Mary Ann Livingood copy edited this story.
