Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last Saturday I attended an event organised by the Cardinia Gujarati Association in Packenham. It gave me the greatest pleasure to be part of the event, which is a festival of Gujarati folk dance celebrated in Navratri—a celebration lasting nine nights. I was amazed to see how the women and men were performing traditional dances as part of the Navratri celebration in Pakenham. They were dressed in red, pink, yellow and orange—brightly coloured traditional wear. They wore heavy jewellery such as two to three necklaces, sparkling bangles, waist belts and very long earrings. It was a great occasion, even for the children.

I'm thankful to the organisers who took the initiative to organise this kind of event for my La Trobe electorate residents, where all communities can come together regardless of race, colour or religion. I would like to acknowledge the organisers Brijal Parikh, Harpreet Kandra and Siddharth Piolwala for organising the Indian Gujarati community event in order to inculcate and sustain traditional values in the younger generation. I was delighted to be part of this Navratri cultural event, which highlights the Indian Gujarati culture and art to the Cardinia shire region community. Thank you to all the communities for their support throughout this event to make this a very special evening and occasion. Once again, thank you for everything you did that night. It was a fantastic night.

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