Hyderabad: People with a Gujarati heritage and those who have moved to the city for work say that Navaratri is their most-anticipated period of the year as besides decking up in traditional attires and bonding with community members, it provides them an outlet to dance to the high-octane tunes of Dandiya, Garba and Sanedo.
While worship of Goddess Durga remains the key focus, many venues across the city, such as Gujarati High School in Koti, Sri Gujarati Seva Mandal in Secunderabad, Police Hockey Stadium in Begumpet and Dandiya Raas Utsav at Imperial Garden, turn into dance locales.
It is not only the Gujarati community that takes part in these events, as people working across the IT corridor also use this as a bonding experience, a bit different from the usual discotheques or dimly lit pubs and clubs.
Jignesh Doshi, president of the Gujarati society, said that the dance events have gained popularity in the city as around 10,000 Gujarati families reside here.
He said, “Matha (Durga idol) is installed and all the devotees perform Garba. Families will throng in large numbers as this is our biggest festival.”
Reshma Vakharia, a homemaker, who resides in Begumpet, said: “All our family members and friends long for these nine days. We meet up and perform pooja, followed by our traditional dance time. We dress up in our best traditional attires and dance to the tunes, which is an indescribable feeling.”
Uday Shah, a resident of Jeera on RP Road, said: “These nine days, we engage in the festivities. Even though Gujarat is far away, the venues are decked up the same. We also invite our friends, who join us in traditional Dandiya and Garba.”
