Navratri is a festival dedicated to the worship of the goddess Durga. The word Navaratri means ‘nine nights’ in Sanskrit, nava meaning nine and ratri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms of Shakti/Devi are worshiped. The tenth day is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami or “Dussehra” (Dasara). Navratri is an important major festival and is celebrated all over India. Diwali the festival of lights is celebrated twenty days after Dasara.
This year, ISBR Business School celebrated the festival of Navratri with the students and faculty for the first time since its inception in the college auditorium on the 27th of September. One week before the festival, the students, under the guidance of their faculty, got together to organize a special program for the occasion.
Mr Manish Kotari MD, ISBR and Dr. C. Manohar, Dean ISBR were both present for the function and led the gathering of students, faculty, teaching and non-teaching staff during the Jay Aadhya Shakti pooja at the beginning of the program. This was followed by the famous Do Taali Garba dance in which the organizers led the audience in a series of exciting and rather physical dance steps around a beautiful pandal built in the center of the auditorium. After the Garba, students were given a pair of dandiyas and asked to assemble around the pandal for the Dandiya, another famous tradition of the festival where people get together in pairs and dance using their dandiyas. There was no choreography involved as everyone simply followed each other as they moved in a circle around the pandal playing with their dandiyas.
Next came the Sanedo dance in which everyone got together in groups and began dancing to the songs and music being played. Some audience members got together on stage to click photos against a lovely backdrop prepared by the organizers for the program. This was followed once again by the Jay Aadhya Shakti pooja to close the ceremony and proceedings for the evening. The entire program went off without a hitch and everyone enjoyed the celebrations very much.