ROURKELA: When it comes to Durga Puja in the steel city, the festival isn't about lavish pandals and beautiful idols alone. The festival has more colours added to itself here. Be it through the power Garbas or the dumb-bell Dandiyas, the Gujarati and the Marwari communities jazz-up the traditional nine-day-long festival of Navaratri in their own ways. Interestingly, it's a perfect confluence of cultures here, as the city wears the Gujarati or Marwari festive look alongside the four-day-long celebrations of Durgostav in a Bengali or Odia set-up.
Amid the mélange of late night festivities and devotion, the Garba and Dandia performances organsied by Sri Jalaram Seva Mandal-Yuva Sangh along the Kachery Road here draw huge crowd. “Garba is basically a devotional folk dance form of Gujarat. It is an inevitable part of the Navaratri ritual. Devotees perform ‘Garba’ set to the tunes of religious songs by revolving around the pictures of Maa Durga and lit-up lamps kept at the centre. Garba is later followed by Dandia performances. Dressed in colourful attires, the participants strike sticks while dancing,” said Sangh president Milan Modi.
The Navaratri celebrations began from September 21 and would last till September 29. Garba and Dandiya is being organised in the city for the past 35 years. “Aarti is completed before midnight everyday during the festival. The Garba and Dandia performances continue till 1.30 am. However, loud music is not being played post midnight as per the restrictions imposed by local administration,” Modi added.
The tradition of Garba and Dandiya has been kept alive here by the members of a Marwari family. The BK Parmar family provides their sprawling property at the heart of the city for organising the event.
“There is a thin line between Garba and Dandia. In Garba, dancers clap using their palms, while Dandiya involves striking of two sticks to produce a rhythmic sound. The dance steps are a bit faster in Dandiya,” said a member of the Gujarati community, Mahesh J Vajir. Not just these, Navaratri Jagrans organised by the Marwari community are also a big hit in the city. The rendering of devotional songs and ‘Bhajans’ at these jagrans take divinity to another level. These are being organised by a sizeable Marwari population, originally belonging to Rajasthan and Haryana.