Column

The music was reaching a fevered pitch, the boom boom boom of the drum beat on the hi-tech sound system was driving the dancers into frenzy — they swayed and twirled and bopped and jumped — some with their eyes shut as if choreographed dervishes in a primaeval ritual.

It was late night and the moon was out, a golden orb high up in the sky. The dancers were dressed in the familiar clothes of the occasion, garish neon colours, face paint, bright kurtas, bangles and beads.

They had assembled at this predetermined location to dance the night away. But beyond that immediate agenda there were other more pressing agendas: this gathering was a much needed letting off steam — the urge to merge was something that the dancers looked forward to with quiet desperation, as most of them lived high pressure lives, worked in white collar demanding jobs, and needed this night out where they could forget themselves in wild dancing, the loud music and the blur of throbbing bodies.

But besides this, there was the ever-present mating instinct that gatherings like this gave vent to — boy meets girl was a very distinct possibility here —and the rumour that the services of a spate of abortion clinics were engaged following these occasions was rampant.

Were there drugs taken at these gatherings? The fact that they attracted hordes of rich kids with disposable income and unbounded curiosity was well-known. Peer pressure and easy availability could be motivators. The combination of wild abandoned dancing, high decibel percussion music and the crush of young bodies certainly provided the ideal breeding ground. But so far nothing substantial had been established —except the fact that dehydration and a fondness for energy giving sweets usually followed these occasions.

The music, of course, was particular to this kind of gathering, designed to drive people to frenzy, it was specialised and played only on these occasions. Its creators were luminaries in their fields with cultish fan followings and star status among their followers.

And what was I doing attending such an event— so far from home? The papers had been writing about these dance-gatherings with frequency, and attracted by the anthropology of this subculture that existed amongst Mumbai’s youth, interested in the music, the clothes, the sights and sounds — I had made it a point to attend my first garba session in Mumbai!

s_malavika@dnaindia.net