CHICAGO: A score of community organizations, including temples, across Chicago, jumped into the Navratri festival mood and organized Raas Garba and Dandiya mostly during the week ends. An exception was a trio of community activists on Mahatma Gandhi Marg on Devon Ave, the heart of India Town.
This trio – Gurbachan Kaur of Regal Jewels, Kamal and Hansa Chhabaria and Hemant Brahmbhatt of Hi India – who had for the first time brought Devon Ka Raja Lord Ganesh to Mini India Town, also hosted nine days of Navratri ending Thursday October 2.
All the nine days there were Darshan, Aartis, Garba and Prasad. In between there was Mata Ki Chowki by Bharati Desai who also sang Bhajans to the delight of hundreds of devotees flocking to 2650 W Devon to be part of the celebrations and get spiritual uplift.
Gurbachan Kaur, one of the prime organizers, said it was for the first time that many local residents who could not go to far away temples or far way auditoriums to attend Garba, were happy that somebody would take initiative and organize things here only, and that too for nine days in a row. “This was all done with Goddess Durga’s blessings,” she said.
Grays Lake Hindu temple on far north east side had also huge celebrations. One of the outstanding features was that Goddess Durga was decorated with peacock feathers all around. “It was a sight to see,” said awestruck Daksha Rao of Itasca city in Chicagoland. It was a ten-day event commencing on September 24 with Kalash Sthapan and ending with Ravan Dahan on Vijay Dashmi day, October 4. Close to 2500 devotees attended the celebrations.
United Senior Pariwar had grand Garba Raas program at Niles Township High school in Niles (a northwest suburb of Chicago) on September 27. It was one of the biggest gatherings of its type with many a youth participating along with seniors. The four-hour Raas Garba was a treat to watch and participate.
Avi Verma, an avowed Mata devotee had Mata Ki Chowki at his residence. Besides he helped Radhey Shyam Mandir too. Manav Seva Mandir, Hari Om Mandir, Lemont Temple, Vivekanand Vedant Society and many social organizations like Kadva Patidar, Seniors Pariwars, Six Gam and others also hosted celebrations during the festival period.
Suresh Shah
