World Cultural Fest

The world Culture festival 2016 was a celebration of the Art of Living’s 35 years of service, humanity, spirituality and human values. It took place on March 11-13, 2016 in New Delhi, India. The festival celebrated the diversity in cultures from across the world while simultaneously highlighting its unity as a human family.

“We are inspired to continue with more enthusiasm and greater speed to realize the dream, where life becomes a celebration and the world will become one family. The World Culture Festival is a celebration of achievements and a vision to do better” says Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Ravi Shankar sermonises on controlling one’s feelings and emotions in addition to being a staunch supporter of inter-religious harmony.

I participated in this remarkable fest. The experience was incredible as I got to perform on such a grand platform. This opportunity not only helped me overcome my stage fear, but also helped me develop my confidence. I developed new dance skills while preparing for this event. To prevent any mistakes, the rehearsals for this fest began quite a few time ago, since November 2015.

The garba classes that I participated in helped me develop new skills very quickly. Managing school with these rehearsals was challenging, but I learnt to adapt it to in sometime. I realises commitment towards these rehearsals was very important, as I had to perform my best on the stage in front of millions of people.

The most incredible moment was it rained heavily, and people from different countries, from  various cultures came together and danced as one unit. It was an unbelievable moment for all the participants. The happiness and positive vibes created during that time made me feel impeccable. I realised that at the end of the day, all of us were humans who enjoyed thoroughly without letting different race, culture changing their minds.

Countries such as Mexico, Rome, Spain, Namibia, Czech Republic, Sri Lanka, Russia, Brazil, Lithuania, Belarus, Philippines, China, Hungary, Argentina and many more participated in the event and portrayed different dance cultures of their countries. It was a beautiful sight to learn about difference dances, even Indian dances, such as Bharatnatyam, Odissi, Assamese Bihu, Punjabi Bhangra and such like.

It was one of the most breathtaking journeys I’ve experienced till now. It was a moment of sheer joy and merriment.

Below is one of the practice videos that happened in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. I’m in the first column, 3rd row, wearing a Pink and Yellow Kurti.