The Indian Cultural Society (ICS) hosted its third Garba X Diwali Event on October 26. ICS gave the Lambert community an opportunity to bond over Indian culture and helped many gain new experiences.
The Garba X Diwali event entailed a night of dancing and enjoying Bollywood music. There were many food vendors selling different Indian cuisines, as well as a place to take photos. ICS saw over 700 people attend and many more volunteers.
Initially, ICS had not planned on hosting the Garba X Diwali event this year; however, the club received an overwhelming number of requests asking for ICS to host a Garba or Diwali gathering. Despite the short time frame, ICS President and junior Riya Shah decided to listen to the requests and combined the two festivals into one event.
“The dates were really tight,” Shah explained. “But then we got so many people reaching out to us, and they were like, ‘We really want Garba this year!’ So then I was like, ‘Okay, we have two weeks. You know what, let’s do it!’”
ICS gives credit for the large attendance to the posters as well as the flyers they put up outside of school. Shah explains that since a big percentage of the money is going to donation, the club wanted to make sure they were advertising as much as possible.
“We put flyers everywhere,” Shah said. “In all the hallways, yard signs in the front, stop signs on the roads. We sent messages out to all our friends and family because this is also a fundraising event, so all the money we get from these events go to donations.”
ICS also gives credit to the members who helped to execute such a large event. According to ICS officer and junior Dayamayee Ramu Dayalan, planning the event in such a short time frame helped ICS members learn more about each other and allowed for more team building.
“With the team building and everything we do,” Dayalan noted. “We get to know each other’s weaknesses and strengths, and we know how to communicate with each other.”
ICS does not plan on stopping at Garba and Diwali either. They plan on providing more volunteer opportunities for students and hosting other cultural events like Holi.
“This year, we’re definitely thinking of doing more volunteering opportunities after this event,” Shah explained. “And in the second semester, we’re definitely planning on doing Holi or collabing with a different school to do a Bollywood event.”
In the end, what began as a last minute plan turned into an unforgettable event. It’s clear that Garba X Diwali will hold a special place in the Lambert community.
