Gujarati, Marwaris all set to groove to Navaratri beats

♦ Gujarati community celebrate Navarati traditionally by dancing to the beats of folk songs

♦ All nine days will have different themes such as ‘Made in India’, ‘Health is wealth’ among others

♦ Few graba organisershave started rehearsals and free workshops are being arranged

Hyderabad: The Gujarati and Marwari communities are all set to celebrate Navaratri this year keeping the traditional fervent alive, as nowadays garba \dandiya has become commercial, and people have forgotten how it used to be celebrated earlier, so this year both the community organisers are gearing up with various ideas to attract the people for these nine days.

Both the Marwari and Gujarati communities celebrate the festival in a similar fashion, except for a few specific traditions of their own. A few graba organisers have started the rehearsals and free workshops are being arranged. “In Marwari tradition we keep wheat in a new pot in the corner and water it for nine days. On the day of Dasara, we use the wheat leaves for puja,” said Ritu Jain, a resident of Sindhi colony.

Rajesh C Shah, trustee of Gujarati Pragati Samaj, who has been organising Navratri Utsav at Imperial Gardens, Secunderabad, for five years said, “Nowadays people have forgotten how we used to celebrate Dasara traditionally by placing garbi. As a Gujarati community, we celebrate Navarati traditionally by dancing to the beats of folk songs which tell us about the significance of this festival.”

Saloni Jain, organiser of Navkar Navaratri Utsav, said, “For the past five years, we have been organising Navarati in a traditional manner. However, for 2023 we have planned to give an extraordinary experience to our participants. The event which will be held for nine days will have different themes such as ‘Made in India’, ‘Health is wealth’ and others. Rounding it all up with Maha-Aarti or Ganga Aarti is planned on Ashtami Day (the eighth day of the festival).

Prakash Jadeja, who has been organising these festivities for the past several years in the city, said, “Garba is a popular folk dance of Gujarat and is performed with passion and fervour during these nine days. This year we have been receiving a huge response as most of the passes are already booked in advance”.