Keeping the tradition alive

Dedicated to the Goddess Durga, the nine days of Navratri brings all age groups of the community closer through rituals and traditions. These traditions include praying to the goddess, wearing traditional clothes in different colours that are meant specifically for the day, playing garba or dandiya and making varieties of sweets.

For the past few years the Blossom Society in Marol has been celebrating Navratri with every family in the community. People of all ages regardless of caste come together on all nine days to play dandiya and garba. Speaking about the unity amongst their society members, Sudhir Nair, a member of the society says, "Every year we bring the photo of the goddess for the puja from our own apartments rather than buying an idol."

Amita Shah, a 39-year old Gujarati resident of Borivli, says that they worship lord Krishna (Thakkurji) in their house. "We make different dresses for nine days and dress up the small idol of the god after which we conduct a puja ceremony early in the morning. We also make several varieties of sweets every day. At night we don our traditional outfits and go out to play dandiya and garba across the town."

Many people tend to dress up according to the nine colours dedicated to the nine days of the festival. Speaking about it, Ruchita Salaskar, a resident of Jogeshwari, said, "For me Navratri is about fasting for nine days. I dress up according to the colour codes every day. Besides fasting I also travel barefoot on all the nine days. The Navratri fast is broken on the ninth day."

Tamilians celebrate Navratri Kolu to welcome the goddesses Durga, Saraswati and Lakhsmi.

Kolu in Tamil means Divine Presence. The festival for Tamilians is a welcoming ritual that is performed for the Goddesses is performed by an an elderly male or female in the family by building an odd number of of shelves of Padi (steps) with wooden planks. The Kolu then displays depictions of court scenes or wedding processions and other situations throughout the nine days. "We keep five steps of golu padi and display the golu of the gods and goddesses. My wife decided to represent the marriage scene this year. We also put books at the feet of the goddess Saraswati. On the tenth day (vijayalakshmi) we read these books as a tradition," says Ganesh R., resident of Kharghar who has been celebrating Kolu ever since he was a child.

Speaking about how they celebrate the festival in traditional way, Ganesh R, resident of Kharghar, said: "Since childhood we celebrate the Kolu festival at our home. We keep five steps of golu padi (steps) and display the golu of god and goddess. As a theme this year, on the last padi my wife as displayed dolls representing marriage scene. Keeping the tradition alive, on ninth day we keep books for puja and prayer to goddess Saraswati. And on the tenth day (known as vijayalakshmi) we start reading those books as a tradition."

Bengali's begin celebrating Durga Puja on the sixth day, Shashthi, of this ten-day festival. Amidst the mellifluous sounds of the dhak and the ghanta the Goddess Durga is welcomed, her arrival being celebrated with pomp and flair. A community event celebrated by family, relatives and friends, this is one time when loved ones can come together and enjoy some much needed fun time with each other. "Durga Puja is a community event which is celebrated by people meeting at the mandal. It is not celebrated at home individually. Traditional agomoni songs are sung to welcome her to her family home. An all vegetarian bhog is cooked by the club members and spread in her honour. It begins with the traditional Bengali khichdi which is served with labda (mix vegetables), beguni (brinjal pakoda) and payesh (kheer). On Dashami (the tenth day), the married women play with sindur. It is a special ritual where women first offer sindur (vermillion) and sweets to the goddess and then apply sindur on each other's foreheads as a sign of good omen and good wishes as she returns to her husband's house," says Mithali Choundhary, member of Bengal Club, Shivaji Park.