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SharePeople observe a customary fast over the entire nine days of Navratri, with the aim of offering prayers and devotion to the nine forms of Shakti/Devi. While the A and B of Navratri are steeped in religious fervour, the C and D aspects are contemporary and less sacred.
Commercially speaking, garba organisers rake in the moolah in the name of Navratri celebrations. And the garba dance, branded as the longest dance festival on the planet, is not overrated at all.
Women dancing to gay abandon, with flying dupattas, tattooed arms and swirling chaniyas in a multitude of hues and colours, with the complementing oxidised silver jewellery, are a visual treat. Men dressed in kediyas, with headgear (safos) carrying chhattas to add that extra touch of ethnicity, swaying to the beats with high energy, are a pleasure to watch.
There are different types of garba venues, small and big, the count of which will run into hundreds in any city of Gujarat, catering to all segments of society: from the small roadside garba, where slumdwellers assemble around the garbo, to tens of thousands of people gathered at the Vibrant Navratri celebrations at University ground, where entry is free for all.
Private garba organisers see these nine days as an opportunity to enhance their business. A typical grand-scale garba may cost between Rs2 lakh and Rs3 lakh per day, whereas the organisers are able to pick up sponsors for twice this amount. Club garba, costing less than Rs9 lakh for the nine nights, can raise Rs20 lakh to Rs25 lakh by way of sponsorship, and food and ticket sales.
Tickets are priced at anywhere from Rs50 to Rs400 per person. Rs50 gains you entry to a venue with a capacity of 6,000 to 8,000 people. At the upper end, Rs400 gains you entry to an elite ground with a few hundred people.
Club-goers are attracted by the handsome, expensive prizes offered to the dancers. There are a few professional dancers who have entire ranges of home appliances, from the gifts they have received as prizes, from washing machines to refrigerators, tape decks, iPods, music systems, motorcycles and so on.
Then there is the institutional garba organised by students, in a rustic village environment where a dhol plays the garba beat. In contrast to the high-octave bands of private venues, a rural singer sings the notes to dancing students dressed in not so traditional outfits. Often one catches a glimpse of jeans and skirts, or even formal western knee-length dresses with colourful dupattas thrown in for the traditional adaptation.
It is said that customs and traditions provide opportunities for commerce and business. This saying is 100 per cent true for this festival of dance. Months before Navratri, dance classes do brisk business offering special rates for crash courses, beauty parlours offer Navratri packages for facials and back scrubs, and so on.
Shops selling Kutchi handiworks, and those at Law Garden and Rani ni Pol are bustling with activity, with women haggling for that special backless choli. Gyms are crowded with men working on their biceps and upper body muscles, and women on their weight-loss and inch-loss programmes for that hourglass figure.
Decorators negotiate their best deals for these nine nights. Garba singers and orchestras demand optimum prices, sometimes more than Rs1 lakh per night. Caterers, who earn a few lakh rupees from their service, cook up chatpata items. Chemist stores stock up on their stocks of contraceptives. Restaurants and eateries fill up their inventories for the after-garba hungry people.
