Mumbaikars go to village for Navratri experience

Far from the Navratri revelry in the city, a bunch of Mumbaikars will celebrate the festival by harvesting rice and observing tribal rituals.

This weekend and the next, a 15-member party from Mumbai will stay at Purushwadi, a village in Maharashtra, to participate in the local festivities surrounding the beginning of the harvest season.

Amidst folk songs and tribal dance by the villagers, the visitors will witness the Divine Mother being worshipped along with other tribal goddesses. On the final day of the nine-day festivities, the idols will be immersed in water. The elders will invoke the deities to thank them for a good harvest and the womenfolk will cook a community meal which will be shared by the entire village.

“It’s Navratri with a difference — all the revelry minus the noise and the pollution,” says Noel Thomas, a group member who works as assistant manager at the revenue management department of Kingfisher Airlines.

The group will stay in tents and village homes without the luxury of electricity, running water or mobile connectivity. “We will help out on the fields, harvest rice, plough the land, and tend cattle and goats,” says Francis D’ Costa, a recruitment consultant. Visitors will also help in drying and storing rice in huge pots containing cow dung and hay.

The trip is organised by Grassroutes, a Mumbai-based organisation that promotes rural tourism. “We are trying to bridge the gap between urban and rural cultures,” says Darren Lobo, operations manager at Grassroutes. The project creates alternate livelihood for farmers while familiarising Mumbai-bred visitors with rural India and its customs.

Villagers are trained and hired as guides, cooks and housekeepers by Grassroutes.