Every year some of the KVites take membership to GCA – Gujarati Cultural Association primarily for the Navratri festival which they hold in Cal State – Hayward. There is plenty of space to play and overall it is quite good. However its a bit far away for plenty of folks from the South Bay (and gas prices are now high too).
To break the monotonity of attending GCA year after year, this year me and Dimple are thinking to skip taking the membership and instead go to some of the other Garba-Dandia programs that are held in the Bay Area.
The Sunnyvale Temple Community has some dandia sometimes and Sankara Eye Foundation too organizes one in Santa Clara Convention center. Vibha also organizes Dandia.
If we have enough attendance among the KV families for some of these other Garba locations then we can have the same fun in these locations as well. What do you think?
U beat me from writing this post :). Looking at last years GCA attendance of KV folks :(, we are thinking abt taking a break from GCA. It’s time to explore some other dandiya this yr. So if the whole group goes somewhere together it wld definitely be fun. Can go to Vibha, Sankara or any other where the good groups are playing.
I agree with the idea of exploring other garba events:-)
I personally didnt like the vibha dandiya. We went to their disco dandiya and it wasnt fun playing in the disco lights. Also there was not much space to play. And there were more novices.
Once KV makes its entry, every event becomes a Fun Event. So as long as 5-6 KV families go to the same event, it should be fun and you wont be playing with novices.
For each of the south bay dandiyas, it will be good to post how crowded it was e.g. taking a stroller, finding a corner play-area for the toddlers, etc. GCA was very convenient wrt this.
p.s.: Then we can figure out if Sanaa can be taken there or left home with her mom 🙂
This year we were thinking of going to Sankara Eye Foundation. Last year my neighbor went for this and they liked it.
I agree with jayesh. With changing in dempgraphic n more n more kids, KV certainly need their ‘reserve’ place whereever they go. GCC was no so crowded n hence in a way it was good. even the kids knew whr their mom n dad r. Neway we r in for whereever KV decides
I don’t know how much this has to do with gas prices. 🙂 . All the dandiyas in south bay I have been to were not stroller friendly. Their objective is to max out on ticket sales. I have not been to any dandiya hosted in Santa Clara convention center where there may be some extra room however, nothing is guaranteed as ticket sales are upredictable.
NOTE : This yr GCA will also get crowded with strollers 🙂
Maybe one of the nights we should have our own little KV private garba at someone’s place. We have a world class Dholi and we should make use of him :-). Maybe the keyboardists and guitarists can add to the charm as well.
I have heard that location in Palo Alto is kind of small. I guess no matter what, Kids mostly won’t have space to run around. And parents would have too keep eye on them or keep them within our circle. Plus point is – that might encourage kids to play garba/dandiya along with us instead of just randomly running around. Lately anyway GCA for KV has become medava for adult & play area for kids. 🙂
Being said that as along as some of the basic requirements like decent music, space to play (may be not space to spread out), some sitting area for parents, kids etc is fulfill, no harm trying it out one time. As a group we typically make things suitable to us at most places & have fun. :-))
I think the other venues will not be stroller friendly. In any case, no harm in exploring the other venues. I think the experience will help renew our love for GCA. 🙂
up for trying out a diff place
SEF Dandia is on Oct 4th and Oct 11th.
10% off for min 4 tickets. Kids under 5 are free.
Ekal Dandiya – Sept 13th, sunnyvale template, 7.30 pm (Dimple Patel and Group)
When & Which one gang is going to??
Navratri is Sept 30 – Oct 9.
My 2 cents will be to go on Oct 4th either to SEF or Vibha.
One it is during Navratri. Two there will Be Vibha, SEF, Sunnyvale Hindu temple, GCA etc dandiya on that day so crowd will get split.
Vibha though clearly mentions on their website, no stroller in dance area. Hence may not meet our group requirement.
Does anyone know if Sunnyvale Temple has weekday dandiya this year too during the 9 days? The people in the temple don’t really have an answer
I think ICA used to organize those navratri in the hall besides sunnyvale temple. This year on their website they have not listed Sunnyvale Temple as venue for their Navratri. Instead they have listed Santa Clara Convention Center on 20/27.
http://www.icabayarea.com/eventcalendar.html
ICA event used to be paid one weekend event, whereas temple used to have garba/dandiya followed by arti & owesome prasad platter on actual 9 days. We went couple of times pre-2005 and it reminded me of Navrati in Jagadusha Nagar (Ghatkopar) during childhood.