G.I.JOE!

An sawi G.I. Joe fun rawn hawn chu ka han hawng a, hre ngai lo ta na na na chu ka phu zawk mai! A fun phelh hlim hlawl chu ka han en chiang a, uchang naute niin ka hria. GI Joe tia a hming an vuah daih mai chu a mak ve hranpa reng reng. Kan ro rawt sawm chu nghate rep sa te pawh a ang ve dawn dawnin ka hria!

Ahmedabad - Navratri 2007

Thanks to one of my colleagues, Sonibhai, I got an opportunity to visit Karnavati club during Navratri on October 19, 2007. I went to Chennai the previous week for some training, where I met Pu Avena, Pu Lawmsanga and several Chennai Mizo students in the Church. When I returned to Ahmedabad, Sonibhai had already arranged three club passes for me. I took along my sisters, Awmawmi and Madiki, along with Madiki's daughter Angie. We did not dance but we really enjoyed watching them dance since it was our first time.

Navratri can be considered the biggest festival of Hindus in Gujarat. In Sanskrit it means 'nine nights', and as the name suggests the festival was celebrated for nine nights. Two types of dances were performed in the club when we went there. One was 'Garba', which is a fertility dance for the womenfolk. Originally, they danced with 'garbos' (meaning earthen pots) on their heads and danced gracefully in circles to please their goddess Mataji. These days, however, pots were generally not carried and men too joined in. The other dance was 'dandia-ras' or stick dance (dandia means stick). Here are some of the videos which I had taken with my digital cameras during the festival.

Dandia


Garba


My Niece Angie