People in Gujarat are very happy this year as Navratri, which is celebrated with much fanfare and show, would finally be celebrated after two years due to COVID-19 and lock down across the country.
The Garba classes are seeing huge crowds as everyone wants to enjoy the festival to the fullest and show their dance moves during Navratri.
Vandana Trivedi, owner of Raas Garba classes in Gandhinagar while speaking to ANI said that this year due to the excitement among the people, they had to start our classes from the month of June and the number of students has doubled this time.
“There is no age bar amongst the people who want to learn new steps of Garba, Dodhiya and new styles. This time we have many Garba enthusiasts who are above the age of 50 years who have enrolled in our classes,” she added.
Mukesha, a 54-year-old Garba enthusiast who is learning the new techniques at the classes said, “We generally used to play regular Garba in our society, but this year we will be enjoying Navratri after 2 years and hence I along with my society friends decided to make the most of it and we have learned various new steps as well as Kutchchi garba.”
Shardiya Navratri begins from the first date of Shukla Paksha of Ashwin month, in which the divine forms of Maa Durga are worshipped for nine days and it is dedicated to the nine forms of Goddess Durga. Garba is performed generally around the idol of Goddess Durga.
A garba trainer Ashish Parmar, said that they have been thinking of new steps for the last two years and it is now time to teach the same to the garba enthusiasts who are eager to learn something new.
The festival of Navratri starts from 26th September this year.