After two years of a pandemic-induced lull, the western Indian state of Gujarat saw innumerable Garba (a form of folk dance) revellers swinging to the beats of dandiya (colourful sticks) and music for nine nights. Its cities looked magical in the night as the streets were full of young and old garba goers in their attractive outfits rushing to the venues to have their share of fun-filled Navratri celebrations.

Garba grounds looked like an ocean of happy faces celebrating the rhythm of life and leaving behind the painful memories of COVID-19 pandemic. Finely embroidered chaniya-cholis kediyus with intricate designs, colourful dupattas, oxidized jewellery and bright cotton umbrellas found their way out of the closet to twist and twirl in style. Elegantly.

Navratri celebrations across Gujarat have now become really huge in scale. Gone are the days when garbas were limited to familiar community affairs. Sheri garbas (celebrated after sundown and unique to the festival) with their touch of intimate celebrations and neighbourhood bonding used to add a magical charm to the simple, uncomplicated pol life in the walled city of Ahmedabad. But like everything in life, garba has also undergone massive transformation.

Amid globalisation and modernisation, the celebrations in some places in Gujarat have seen transformations. You see trendy halter neck tops, wrap around skirts in geometrical patterns, kurtas teamed up with denims, fusion music and larger than life venues through the nine nights of garba.

One now sees groups of young garba revellers swirling to the tunes of both traditional and remixed tunes with glow in the dark dandiyas and not to talk about their fondness for taking a dozen selfies. If you have not shared your garba r e n d e z v o u s in a series of insta reels then probably you have missed your steps or your GQ (Garba Quotient) is quite low. You got to flaunt your dance moves on social media and get eyeballs.

And many youngsters now spend their time during Navratri looking for /arranging free passes as the entry to top venues have become expensive too. Midnight buffets, special midnight snacks have now added fun to the post-revelry celebrations.

Traditionalists might not approve of this but a look at garba grounds in Ahmedabad makes you realise that changes have now crept into the celebrations.

This year in some venues, a group of garba enthusiasts regaled fellow dancers with the much popular Pushpa style steps. Fusion has made its entry, it’s here to stay.

Some venues have their code of conduct – like showing your identity card and some others have segregated areas for revellers in traditional and western outfits.

However, it would be wrong to generalise the celebrations or look at them in a linear way. The garba celebrations in Gujarat differ from place to place. In Vadodara, traditional garba is still being celebrated. Because every venue here, plus the sheri garbas, celebrate Navratri the traditional way and there are no instances of remixes/mash-ups/blended dance steps. Many Barodians take pride in their way of celebrating the festival and will never look beyond their city for enjoying Navratri.

This year, residential societies have also witnessed large participation and in some cases sponsorship too. Even though the nine-day festival ended on Tuesday, garba enthusiasts still want to soak in the lingering spirit of Navaratr celebrations.

So, several garba events have been organised on Dussehra/ Vijaya Dashami on Wednesday and Sharad Purnima on October 10 so that the celebrations can still go on and garba enthusiasts can dance to their heart’s content – making up for two lost years.

Interestingly, Gujarat’s garba celebrations — a beautiful collage of worshiping feminine energy, dance and magical colours of life — may earn Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (ICH) tag next year. India’s federal ministry of culture has submitted a dossier to the UN body. The ministry’s implementing agency, Sangeet Natak Akademi, had assigned the project to a team from MS University, Vadodara. It remains to be seen what happens on this front.

But one thing is sure, Gujarat will always lead the way so far as Navaratri celebrations are concerned. No two ways about it.

(Deepika Sahu has been a journalist for 27 years and she has worked with some of India’s leading media houses. Right now, she is independently engaged in content creation and curation. Twitter: @menondeepika Instagram@moodydeepika )

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