Mangalore: The city is set for the lively and vibrant Navratri with colourful traditional dresses, Gujarati delicacies, and pulsating garba, dandiya raas (cultural dance performance).
Every Year city’s Gujarati Samaj organises Navrati Mahotsav at J D Kotecha English/Gujarati Medium High School near Kudroli temple.
This year too Gujarati cultural garba dance has sparked at the same venue inside Matruchhaya hall. Women clad in traditional Chaniya Choli costumes while men in Kurta and churidar hence it creates a petite ambiance of Gujarat’s ethnicity.
Chetan Sureja, president of Navratri Mahotsav Mandal says, “This year we are celebrating 79th year of Navratri Mahotsav in the city. Apart from Gujarati folks, Marwari, Sindhis too enjoy the Mahotsav.”
Organisers stated that as the Gujarati population is increasing in the city likewise the interest too escalating among the people to play garba.
Moreover, the crowd mounts during weekends, also in some schools and colleges exams are going on, which lacks students’ participation, further excluding these nine days, one more day organisers arrange the garba Mahotsav, fortnightly later on Sharad Purnima, where expectedly 2,000 people will gather round, also folks from nearby villages of Puttur, Vittla and Udupi too will rejoice the Mahotsav.
Owing to past graceless experiences with girls (such as capturing their photos unknowingly), in recent past, organisers are following the stringent rules in Mahotsav, and have limited the invitees to the minimum communities.
Organisers quoted that earlier the community were liberal for varied background people however from past few years, committee won’t violate their rules; moreover if such people wish they can or
ganise and play at their desired place.
During garba Mahotsav several popular garba songs are played, further well-liked hot Gujarati delicacies are fried and served at the moment such as fafda, dhoklas, ganthiya, khaman, bread bonda, dabeli, pakoda etc; also people get a chance to relish a different feast on each other day.
“We have a very economic budget, so instead of celebrating in a big ground, we arrange and adore the celebration in this school’s hall, secondly the climate here too, do not permit us to arrange the festival in the open grounds,” adds Nigam Vasani, vice president of Navratri Mahotsav.
Besides, in Mangalore, one cannot find traditional garba costumes such as Chaniya Choli and its ethnic jewellery. “Almost three-four times in a year we visit to Gujarat, hence we buy costumes, dandiya, jewellery from there itself likewise other people too here do this,” Sureja mentioned.
All these nine days, a garbi equal to a small temple is placed at the center of a hall to worship it, where its four sides four goddesses idols’ is placed—goddess Durga, goddess Saraswati, goddess Lakshmi and goddess Mahakali.
On the eighth of Navratri known as Maha Ashtami, yagna belong to goddess is to be performed since morning to noon.
This Navratri Mahotsav was started in the year of 1935. When Gujarati community migrated to the city and in the need of Gujarati education they first started a school along with that garba tradition as well.
