Welcome the dancers!

Navratri is huge in B’bay. Each year, new mandals spring up all over the city. Fashions in backless cholis, back tattoos, anklets, lehengas, ghagra-cholis etc. are unveiled. The city rocks for 9 nights and a popular tale goes around every year about how abortions are up by some 26% after the festival. I was too shy to venture out of my house but I used to stare on for hours at end while kids, adults and grandparents whirled alike to the music.

There are distinct categories among the garba dancers. Lets’ start with the kiddos. They are the most adorable creatures around. Dressed in all sorts of hip-traditional wear, they *dance* to their own beat. They also have their own tiny circle which moves independent of the larger circle. They seem to drift in and out of the main circle to a rhythm of their own. Next come the self-conscious under-15 category. These children come with braces, spectacles and a shy confidence. The girls glance around and try to keep up with the older girls. The boys prance around, monkeying with the chunnu-munnus. Then comes the glam-brigade. Hip and happening, the 15-25 age group is made up of beautiful beings. The girls/women are dressed up in the loveliest of ghagras and lehengas. They favour huge bangles, dangling earrings, hair ornaments, back tattoos, backless cholis. They whirl and swirl around with complete confidence and abandon. Their high gaze has the recklessness of youth and beauty. They know that they’re the cynosure of all eyes and they revel in the attention. The kids look up to these dazzling didis and the didis shine on. The guys in this category are impishly playful. They have a distinct style of dancing: they leap and bound like grasshoppers. Most of them complete the entire circle in a matter of 2-3 leaps. They have an easy style, confident and comfortable. They stare at the babes, the babes stare back. Each complementing the other’s brilliance. Then come the uncle-aunties. Some aunties play with an attitude of near-desperaion (‘I have done all this and MORE in my days!) as if to prove a vital point to the babes. Some other aunties have this glassy-eyed stare which is supposed to stand for *cool confidence and grace* as they sweat to keep pace with the young junta. Yet some others *grind* it out with a vengeance. The uncles are real sweethearts. They know that they are in no competition with anyone. They dance at an even pace, happily chatting, smiling. Then there are the Dada-Dadis and they’re the sweetest. They have their own grace and olde-charm. Not for them these acrobatics, they’re happy doing their own simple steps.

Man, I should have gone out and danced those years….:-(