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Navratri organisers devise novel way to woo revellers

MUMBAI: Never mind the Supreme Court relaxing the ban on loudspeakers; people celebrating the Navratri Hindu festival across Mumbai are going ahead with innovations like headphones for dancers and party zones outside city limits that had been planned to bypass the law.

Apprehensive about the festive spirit being dampened by the ban on use of loudspeakers between 10pm and 6am, organisers devised novel ways to woo revellers including headphones, speed-dating, early bird prizes and auto exhibitions.

And Navratri groups, or mandals as they are locally known, will continue with their plans for the nine-day festival that began yesterday.

The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed the right of the state government to extend the deadline for turning off loudspeakers by two hours for 15 days, a year after the Gujarat government appealed against the decision.

The revelry at Navratri begins in the evening and goes on till late night with the old and young getting together to dance the ‘garba’ or ‘dandiya’ in parks and specially organised events.

“We give something unique to revellers every year. For the past three years, we have been organising an auto show along with the dandiya,” said Daarshana Vora of Sankalp, one of the biggest dandiya organisers in Mumbai whose shows attract about 12,000 people a day.

To keep noise levels low after the deadline, many mandals were ready with headphones for the dancers - though at a premium. Many shifted the venue to far-flung areas to stay away from the city’s noise limits.

Nikhil Shah, one of the most sought after dandiya performers decided to shift his party to Esselworld, an amusement park in the northern outskirts of Mumbai.

Shah, who has been organising dandiya nights for 25 years, probably wanted to add that extra thrill. Visitors need to cross the Gorai creek on a ferry from Borivili to reach Esselworld.

“As Esselworld falls in the entertainment zone and has no noise level problems, we expect people to throng our dandiya,” Shah said.

There are some 3,500 registered navratri mandals in Mumbai who charge anywhere between Rs150 to Rs1,600 for the tickets.

Meanwhile, in the neighbouring Gujarat state, Vibrant Gujarat Navratri Mahotsav-2005 has begun more as a cultural event this time - without political speeches as the election code of conduct is in place there for civic polls this month.

The 10-day event organised by the Gujarat government kicked off at the Helipad ground in state capital Gandhinagar on Monday. 

Dance festivities continued for more than two hours. Troupes from Puerto Rico, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka performed before the packed Helipad ground. 

But no political leader took to the dais and Chief Minister Narendra Modi and assembly Speaker Magandas Patel also sat among the audience.

The event aims to showcase Gujarat as a tourism and investment destination, but the election code of conduct for the civic polls has posed a few hurdles for the administration. 

The state election commission has made the government remove three theme pavilions on the government’s Jyoti Gram Yojana, achievements in urban development and medical tourism in the state.

The authorities also had to remove large cutouts of Modi and Health Minister Ashok Bhatt.

Since the election code of conduct has been in place since September 15, the Gujarat unit of the opposition Congress Party petitioned the state election commission to take note of Vibrant Gujarat, saying it may influence the electorate. 

The state government is organising seminars on tourism, urban development, medical tourism, heritage and the Sardar Sarovar project. The four-day seminars start today. 

This is the third year of the Vibrant Gujarat event.- Indo-Asian News Service

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Ekdum hit this season 2007

MOST Navratris have a trademark hit number, a song that gets the city rocking for nine days.
Earlier, it was Kajra Re and this Navratri (October 12 to 21), the Mumbai dandiyas might rock to Ganpat from the film, Shootout at Lokhandwala, says Nikhil Shah of the Golden Beaters group. 

“Ganpat daru la is going to be a hit, just wait and watch,” says Nikhil, who adds that today’s generation wants rhythm-oriented music, which they can dance to. We try to meet those requirements.

During Ganpati, you notice that people are dancing with their entourage to dhol music, which has very little melody.

This is what I mean by rhythm music,” says Shah, who also predicts the Telugu number Aa aante is going to get the city grooving.