Celebrate Navratri With Gusto
The nine-day celebration of Navratri festival is round the corner. The festival known for its music, dance, zeal and enthusiasm has become trendy and getting a revolutionary new look with revellers adding not only a western blend to the traditional Garba dance, but also to outfits!! Earlier, the festival was limited to the Gujarati community and was celebrated with traditional rituals. It had moral values and had a certain mystique. But in the past decade, the festival has crossed all limits of religious bias and has become a hot favourite among all sections of society.
The popularity of the festival can be judged from the fact that many colleges-going students organize Dandiya and Garba Raas in their colleges. In fact, like Ganesh Utsav, nowadays even Navratri festival is celebrated in many housing societies and housing society members come out of their houses at night and dance to the beats of Dandiya and Garba Raas! Forget India, people from around the globe are enjoying Garba during Navratri festival.
Earlier, Garba was performed in houses or in the courtyards in front of the idol of Devi Maa Durga. But, today, the Garba has shifted its base from houses or courtyards to huge playgrounds and spacious hall in malls or hotels where the corporate sector has hijacked this divine festival into fun and entertainment. The rich entrepreneurs organise Garba and Raas Dandiya on a large scale. Rich people do not care about the huge ticket rates and they participate and enjoy. As regards the middle-class, they too enjoy Garba and Raas Dandiya dance by organizing it in their housing localities and have fun.
The only concern during the Garba and Raas Dandiya event is the security, particularly about youngsters. Usually, it is found that boys accompany girls during Garba and Raas Dandiya and this has been a matter of concern because some notorious boys take undue advantage of girls’ liberty during Garba and Raas Dandiya dance which has tarnished the image of this pious festival.
Youngsters from well-to-do families are out all night on the pretext of Garba and Raas Dandiya dance. Parents allow their children in the name of the festival but the tragedy is that among these youngsters some youngsters indulge in immoral activities. Instead of Garba and Dandiya, they take girls on a long drive and have fun, which not only shames the sacred festival but also the youth have to pay a heavy price and repent all life. During fun and enjoyment, the youngsters forget the ethics of the festival and, instead, indulge in wrong-doings which they later regret, but it is no use as it is too late.
Nevertheless, the Mumbai Police and the lady Crime Branch officials do great work. The cops keep a special watch with CCTV footage to prevent any harassment to women. Besides, the cops in uniform will also be deployed across all venues.
Home Times wishes all its readers ‘Happy Navratri!”
