Gujarati families celebrate `Navratra' with traditional festive spirit

The Savla family that came to the city about ten decades back has managed to keep the Gujarati tradition of celebrating Navratra alive. A riot of colours is splashed in the Gujrati Bhawan premises when more than 250 Gujarati families from all over the city gather to offer prayers to Maa Durga and play `Garba'.
The Gujarati Samaj is the oldest and apex body of the community in the city.It was established 115 years back when Magan Lal Savla came to the city and set up his own business. “My grandfather Magan Lal Savla, used to visit the city frequently for business purposes during British rule. At that time Kalpi was known as ‘Ghalle ka market’ (grain market). He along with few other fellows decided to set up their own business here. He joined the samiti and helped in its expansion. At that time there were not many Gujarati families but now there are more than 250 families in the city,” Ashok Savla, president of Gujarati Samaj said.
Savla said that they had been organising the traditional ‘Dandiya’ and ‘Garba’ meet during Navratra for the members of the Gujarati community. The celebrations have already begun here. Dressed in typical Gujarati sarees or `chaniya choli', the members of the community put their best foot forward to show their skills in `Raas', `Garba' and `Dandiya'.
The members of the samaj make it a point to celebrate the festival in a traditional Gujarati manner with an essence of fun and frolic. “People observe fast during the nine days of festivities. Men and women perform `Garba' and `Dandia' that start at 10 am every night followed by `aarti' and `prasad' distribution. We have tried to maintain a typical Gujarati culture so that none of the members miss festival celebrations the way they are done in Gujarat,” Savla said.
The days are filled with devotion towards the deity while the nights are vibrant, reflecting the festive spirit. “We do `murti sthapna' on the first day of Navratra, which is followed by `Garba' and `Dandiya'. The two dance forms are basically a way to offer prayer to godess Durga. We call it ‘Durga Ahvaan’. Men, women and kids all do it together. Women wear traditional three-piece `ghagra', `cholis', and `odhni', while men in `Dandiya' dress up in matching colourful traditional dhotis and `angarkha' or kurtas with loads of mirrors on the dress,” Pankaj Savla, vice-president of the committee said.
Once sun sets, thousands of Navratri enthusiasts dressed in their traditional wear flock to the Gujarati Samaj building in anticipation of fun, frolic and loads of colour. The crowd burst into playing `Dandiya' and `Garba' on typical Gujrati bhajans. “We do not play film or remix songs. Keeping the Gujarat’s spirit alive, we prefer playing only original Gujarati folk songs. Some of the examples include: ‘Garba chak dol chale’, ‘Khel khel re Bhavani maa’, ‘Ek raja ni 1600 rani jhankudi re jhankudi’,” Puneet Parikh, vice- chairman of Navyuvan Mandal-Gujrati Samaj, said.