On the garba beat

Garba crawl

Pub crawls have been swapped for garba crawls this festive season; and patrons have the Mumbai Metro to thank for it. For revellers’ ease of travel, the service on line 2A – that covers the western suburbs – has been extended from 10:30 pm to 12:30 am through Navratri.

Taking advantage of this facility, garba enthusiasts have been venue hopping in these parts every evening; an otherwise impossible task, if they were to navigate evening and late-night traffic.

Every year, 18-year-old Kandivali resident Heer Bachani and her friends would choose a venue and stick with it through the evening. This year, Heer and her friends, and indeed many others, have been spotted in their garba finery – defined by the flash of chaniya cholis, kediyus and flowy kafni pyjamas -- hopping in and out of metro cars on line 2A.

It was a good idea, feels Heer, to have the facility on the Western line, as the suburb is “home to a huge Gujarati population; and a lot of big-ticket garba venues like the one at Borivali’s Late Pramod Mahajan Sports Complex, which is headlined by raas queen Falguni Pathak”.

“It is convenient, cheap and quicker than taking cabs and autos,” says Heer. “Besides, we feel safe and are stress-free.”

Every day, the girl gang takes the metro from Dahanukarwadi to get to NESCO grounds in Goregaon at 6:30 pm and check out of the venue by 9:30 pm to head to Borivali, “as it is better to be closer to home towards the latter part of the evening”. The group which comprised five to six on weekdays, grew to 12 over the weekends.

On the very first day of the additional services Mumbai Metro witnessed “a record-breaking ridership of 2,43,016, and the footfalls have only increased,” said Sanjay Mukherjee, CMD of Mumbai Metro and metropolitan commissioner of MMRDA.

A new hook

Hitakshi Vyas Joshi, 34, is a practicing psychologist and an innovative dancer who teaches folk dance in a Ghatkopar studio before Navratri.

The Ghatkopar resident is always on the lookout for fun moves which she incorporates in her art. This year, the hook step performed to ‘Khodiyar Ma’ has taken the garba cognoscenti by storm, after Malad residents Ankit Upadhyay and Parth Patel, who run garba classes at Thangaat Garba, devised it and became immediate social media stars. Everyone has cottoned on.

‘Khodiyar Ma’ step has been performed by various influencers, including Viraj Ghelani, actor, director and social media influencer, on reels. Along with the familiar spins and claps, the step is interwoven with some shimmy and Bollywood style hand movement, ending with a leap in the air.

Hitakshi says one of the other popular steps this season is the Gujarati version of the hook step performed by Ranveer Singh in the song ‘Tatad Tattad’ in ‘Ram-Leela’. Called Tetudo or Timli, it involves a sway of hands in the front and behind one’s head with a change of direction after every few repetitions.

“Whether you are on your own or performing in a group, the hook steps can make the dance routine a lot of fun. The performance is a lot more coordinated. A group stands out when performing it in sync; any dancer who knows the step can easily merge into a group,” says Hitakshi.

She believes peppering traditional dances with modern steps helps make performances fun for the youth. “While it is important to pass on our traditions and culture, including folk dances, we also need to be open and accept changes that time brings into traditions and practices,” she says.

Tradition is instrumental

Ghatkopar and Mulund are key garba hubs in the eastern suburbs.

The Bhatia Wadi Navratri Festival in Ghatkopar was a pathbreaker in 1955 when it started the ‘ladies only’ garba. The founder Sushilaben Marchant envisioned this as a safe space for women to both worship and let their hair down. “The festival is observed strictly as per tradition right from wardrobe to the music, so that the community can learn and keep it alive,” says Smita Marchant, Sushilaben’s granddaughter and one of the organisers of Bhatia Wadi Navratri Festival.

Traditional music remains at the heart of the festivities. Jiten Kalwani, a playback singer and head of a musical troupe from Kolkata, expresses, “Even today, people admire the strains of shehnai and beats of dhol. We come here every year to perform during Navratri. We play traditional music on instruments, including the Kutchi dhol.”

Likewise, a cut away from noisy vocal renderings, the Shri Kutchi Lohana Mahajan, in Mulund, organises a grand garba where dancers sway to music wafting through Kutchi dhol and shehnai.

The celebrations start from 7pm and go on till 9:15 pm, which is followed by pooja and arati of the goddess. Maya Kothari, working president of Shri Kutchi Lohana Mahajan trust, says, “Our commitment is to pass on traditions to the next generation by organising an aarti competition and other rituals.”

Russian connection

Thirty-six-year-old Anastasia, who calls herself Nastya Saraswati, stands out as an accompanying artiste along with singer Osman Mir and percussionist Sivamani, at Borivali’s Kora Kendra grounds 2 and 3.

She has been performing in India for the last four years, although her journey into Indian music began when she visited a kirtan event in St Petersburg, Russia, in 2007. She was hooked and travelled to India in 2010 to explore the genre.

This is her first performance at a community garba event, after playing at private events in various cities of Gujarat. “Seeing people on a spiritual high is like a dopamine shot. I do not understand the lyrics, but I feel the rhythm and music of the event; and go along,” she says.

She revels in what she feels is a union of the young and old at these events as they dance to the tunes, and feels she is “an element in the larger picture”. “Sometimes the violin leads and at other times it plays a supporting role in the folk songs,” she says. Nastya is a student of sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee and has been on various tours since she came to live in India in 2019.

Dinesh Ghate Jain, organiser of the event, and a musician himself, says, “We decided to bring a distinct musical experience this Navratri. On the first three days we had Sivamani, who is known as the king of rhythm, and we have Osman Mir, Gujarat’s pride. We found Nastya at an event playing the violin. We were immediately hooked, and decided to bring the experience to Navratri.”

Music composer Dharmesh Joshi, says, “Our intention was to go traditional and break away from Bollywood. Special themes have been composed with acoustic violin and shehnai. Osman Mir’s voice and Nastya’s violin takes the music to the next level.”

Comfort over style

Every year organisers try different tactics to draw crowds, and the event put up by organisers at Nesco Grounds, Goregaon, has become a talking point as it has managed to provide comfort, along with entertainment, to patrons.

The event – Rangilo Re – has been organised in an air-conditioned dome and there’s affordable food (in around 30 stalls) and water for those staying late. On an average, it has seen footfalls between 7000 to 8000 every day. It is a preferred destination for energetic dancers who want to last long and beat the October heat and humidity.

Anshul Joshi and Jash Shah, dashed out of an event where Falguni Pathak was performing, unable to bear the crowd and heat and headed to Nesco. “It suits us as it is an enclosed venue. The event goes on till after midnight, which we can join even after returning from office,” says Shah.

“Garba is not just about watching the event but also about dance. Hence, Nesco is a preferred place where you get space to play. There is also an additional hall that is opened up when the crowd increases,” adds Joshi.

Another regular to this spot, Bijal Parekh, says, “I attend the Falguni Pathak event because of the mood and energy, but water bottles there are sold at ₹60 a bottle, which is just not right.” Akshar Parmar, who attends the Nesco event with his wife Snehal along with their one-year-old daughter, says, “This is our third year here – it is a preferred choice due to relaxed timings, separate queues for men and women and the comfort. Our daughter is able to play with our group for long.”

Kumar Razdan, head of Nesco Events puts down the wins of the venue on infrastructure and availability of parking space. “Thirty per cent of our patrons hold season passes. We understand their pain points and do multiple simulations before the events to ensure a smooth experience.”

Destination: Borivali

A major hook to the event ‘Rangratri -- Dandiya Nights with Kinjal Dave’ at Borivali’s Kutchi Ground, is the star herself. The young singer attracts around 12,000 people on a week day; organisers expect the numbers to go up to 15,000 on weekends.

The event is organised by Durgadevi Navratra Utsav Samiti and the Local BJP MLA Sunil Rane.

BookMyShow describes the event as ‘a first-of-a-kind dandiya raas experience where people can come directly from offices’. The venue has changing rooms and lockers for patrons to keep their personal items. Additionally, a 1.2-lakh square feet wooden platform on a levelled ground offers comfort for dancers.

“We had to make more space this year to accommodate people,” says Rane.

Dave’s power-packed performance ensures that not an inch is left free on the dance floor. “Kinjal Dave has been a crowd puller and people love to attend the event. Some just come to watch,” says a member of the organising committee.

Dancers perform with the artiste on the main stage of the venue, and those that can’t come closer watch her perform on the large screens set up on the ground.

It’s a rap

Popular folk songs played at certain pandals, such as ‘Khalasi,’ ‘Dhakla 2.0,’ ‘Kaan sheri ramo x Bhala Bhanejada’ and ‘Khodiyaar ma’ are being recast as rap and metal. The songs got fresh spins by artistes like Aditya Gadhvi and Achint, and Bandish Projekt.

Financial advisor Hetal Mehta says that the new versions are finding favour across age groups. “The songs are keeping everyone on their feet – from my parents who are 67 and 64, to my two-year-old niece. The folk songs have been passed down orally which the singers have recreated in their own versions,” says Mehta.

Some venues pushed the envelope with the experiment, as Mehta found people dancing to Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ with equal fervour. While purists would hesitate to appreciate this modern whirl, Mehta feels “it’s a good way to introduce these songs to not just the younger members of the community but also to non-Gujarati people”.