After I came to Germany in November 2017, I missed my friends and especially the festivals back in India. For about 6 months, I had no social contacts and yearned to meet someone speaking my language. But finally, after a long wait, I realized that there are many like me, who speak my language and we formed a small group to celebrate festivals and events for the Marathi speaking community in Karlsruhe. Maharashtra Mandal Karlsruhe (MMK) was born. We celebrated the first event in November 2018 where we celebrated Diwali with about 70 people and then we did Haldi Kunku in January 2019 and the next target was the Gudi Padwa on 7th April 2019. This year it was on 6th April. But due to the unavailability on 6th, we decided to do it on 7th April. Gudi Padwa is the Marathi new year and in Maharashtra, it is celebrated with pomp. People come on the roads with their respective groups, perform, play and go around the city, dressed in traditional attire. It's called Shobha Yatra. Read more about Gudi Padwa here: http://www.hinduismfacts.org/hindu-festivals/gudi-padwa/. We planned to do something similar in Karlsruhe, not on the road definitely, but in the hall.
We are a core team of around 14 people. 5 married couples and 4 of us whose spouse is not a part of the group. We formed a cultural team where it was decided what programs to include in the event and we decided to perform Lezhim and Shobha Yatra (which would be the highlight of the event). The Gharpure family from the core team had gone to India in December 2017 and they got almost all the stuff for the program. The instruments like Jhanj, Lezhim and saffron flags, etc. were brought from India. Sonali Gharpure, Mahesh Parkhi and Pankaj Gharpure were the choreographers for the Shobha Yatra. And we all started practicing with a lot of vigor and enthusiasm. But before that, we finalized the name of the Gudi Padwa event, which was "Sankalp". We did proper voting and the majority voted for this name. So Sankalp was born and every year, just the year would change. The name would remain the same.
The practice sessions were mostly held in the area of Stutensee, where a majority of the group members resided. They have big houses and it was easy to conduct practice sessions there as we were a big team. The practice sessions were fun and always ended with some delicious food and tea. Special thanks to the Khaladkar, Jawale, Patil and Gharpure family for making their residence available from time to time for the practice. A special thanks to the Parkhi family for devoting so much time and energy to direct the different programs in the event. The Deshpande family was going to provide us with yummy food for the event and all in all, we all had a feeling that it was going to be a huge hit.
We formed different sub-teams and I was a part of the Communication team. I, along with Harshal Deshpande, Sandeep Patil and Pankaj Gharpure (He was the event coordinator and a very tough taskmaster, just kidding!) worked for getting maximum participation from the group and we were very happy to see a good response till the end of March. Our practice sessions were going on in full swing. Almost every weekend was devoted to it and we were enjoying every moment of it. More than the main event of Shobha Yatra, which got over in 10 minutes, the process of making it happen was much more fun and we developed a close bond with each other. It felt as if there was a family function taking place on 7th April and we all were busy preparing for it. There was so much happiness and enthusiasm in the air that we all constantly called or Whatsapped each other asking some or the other thing. I also took over the job of writing the names of the participants on the certificates which would be given at the end of the program and I also made the welcome kits for the guests ready, which had food coupons and a small sticker of the Maharashtra Mandal Karlsruhe. My mother in law helped me in this.
Finally, the day arrived and we all dressed up in our traditional attire of Nauvaari (9 yards sari). I had got it stitched from a specialist shop in Pune and my mother in law had got it for me when she came here. She also bought jewelry and matching stuff for it. We went to the hall at about 9:45 am as I was responsible for receiving the guests. The program started at 11:30 am and the first program was Kids' Yoga where small kids offered a tribute to the Ganpati Bappa (Elephant God). And then the next program was the Shobha Yatra. It was a closely guarded secret and the audience was pleasantly surprised when the music started and we all marched in. It was a major hit and the people couldn't stop clapping and whistling. We were charged up by the amazing audience and their claps and whistles were an acknowledgment of our efforts. The audience was enthralled and we felt satisfied for whatever show we put up there. After our program, there was a lunch break. And after lunch, there were different cultural programs like kids dance, songs, Kavi sammelan, instrumental, etc. At 4:30, we had a small break for hot and steaming ginger tea and the program got over by 5:15.
People loved the program as it was the first of its kind in Karlsruhe. Nothing like this for the Marathi community had happened here before. People were happy to talk and connect in Marathi and have a wholesome Marathi lunch at the event. It's almost a week now that the event happened and it feels like it was just yesterday. It feels so empty now that the event is over. No meetings, no talks, no messages or calls. Everyone is resting and charging up for the next event, I guess. It was a first attempt of the MMK for doing such a grand event and we succeeded to a great extent, I will say!
Sharing a video here of our Shobha Yatra. Do see and let me know how you like it.
Shobha Yatra
We are a core team of around 14 people. 5 married couples and 4 of us whose spouse is not a part of the group. We formed a cultural team where it was decided what programs to include in the event and we decided to perform Lezhim and Shobha Yatra (which would be the highlight of the event). The Gharpure family from the core team had gone to India in December 2017 and they got almost all the stuff for the program. The instruments like Jhanj, Lezhim and saffron flags, etc. were brought from India. Sonali Gharpure, Mahesh Parkhi and Pankaj Gharpure were the choreographers for the Shobha Yatra. And we all started practicing with a lot of vigor and enthusiasm. But before that, we finalized the name of the Gudi Padwa event, which was "Sankalp". We did proper voting and the majority voted for this name. So Sankalp was born and every year, just the year would change. The name would remain the same.
The practice sessions were mostly held in the area of Stutensee, where a majority of the group members resided. They have big houses and it was easy to conduct practice sessions there as we were a big team. The practice sessions were fun and always ended with some delicious food and tea. Special thanks to the Khaladkar, Jawale, Patil and Gharpure family for making their residence available from time to time for the practice. A special thanks to the Parkhi family for devoting so much time and energy to direct the different programs in the event. The Deshpande family was going to provide us with yummy food for the event and all in all, we all had a feeling that it was going to be a huge hit.
We formed different sub-teams and I was a part of the Communication team. I, along with Harshal Deshpande, Sandeep Patil and Pankaj Gharpure (He was the event coordinator and a very tough taskmaster, just kidding!) worked for getting maximum participation from the group and we were very happy to see a good response till the end of March. Our practice sessions were going on in full swing. Almost every weekend was devoted to it and we were enjoying every moment of it. More than the main event of Shobha Yatra, which got over in 10 minutes, the process of making it happen was much more fun and we developed a close bond with each other. It felt as if there was a family function taking place on 7th April and we all were busy preparing for it. There was so much happiness and enthusiasm in the air that we all constantly called or Whatsapped each other asking some or the other thing. I also took over the job of writing the names of the participants on the certificates which would be given at the end of the program and I also made the welcome kits for the guests ready, which had food coupons and a small sticker of the Maharashtra Mandal Karlsruhe. My mother in law helped me in this.
Finally, the day arrived and we all dressed up in our traditional attire of Nauvaari (9 yards sari). I had got it stitched from a specialist shop in Pune and my mother in law had got it for me when she came here. She also bought jewelry and matching stuff for it. We went to the hall at about 9:45 am as I was responsible for receiving the guests. The program started at 11:30 am and the first program was Kids' Yoga where small kids offered a tribute to the Ganpati Bappa (Elephant God). And then the next program was the Shobha Yatra. It was a closely guarded secret and the audience was pleasantly surprised when the music started and we all marched in. It was a major hit and the people couldn't stop clapping and whistling. We were charged up by the amazing audience and their claps and whistles were an acknowledgment of our efforts. The audience was enthralled and we felt satisfied for whatever show we put up there. After our program, there was a lunch break. And after lunch, there were different cultural programs like kids dance, songs, Kavi sammelan, instrumental, etc. At 4:30, we had a small break for hot and steaming ginger tea and the program got over by 5:15.
People loved the program as it was the first of its kind in Karlsruhe. Nothing like this for the Marathi community had happened here before. People were happy to talk and connect in Marathi and have a wholesome Marathi lunch at the event. It's almost a week now that the event happened and it feels like it was just yesterday. It feels so empty now that the event is over. No meetings, no talks, no messages or calls. Everyone is resting and charging up for the next event, I guess. It was a first attempt of the MMK for doing such a grand event and we succeeded to a great extent, I will say!
Sharing a video here of our Shobha Yatra. Do see and let me know how you like it.
Shobha Yatra
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