‘I feel jealous of Gujarat for its rich culture-Navratri’

“I feel jealous of Gujarat neither for security, nor a prosperity here. I feel jealous of the rich culture here. In our state, we can’t imagine celebration of festival like Navratri at this level, because being a girl, I just can’t move out in the evening, forget the nights,” says Priyanka Gupta, a girl from Uttar Pradesh settled in Ahmedabad for last several years.

Priyanka along with her north Indian friends learned Garba in last two months at coaching class in Ahmedabad.

The coaching class owner Chetanbhai says, “There is a great rush of non-Gujaratis settled in Gujarat for Garba-Raas training. As they are settled in this beautiful state, they want to enjoy every bit of it. They learn Gujarati folk dance steps very enthusiastically, and even sing the Gujarati songs, whose meaning, they don’t understand everytime.”

Dandiya enthusiastic macho youth Mahendra Vij, a north Indian settled in Gujarat says, “It is amazing to see that the jeans generation youths of Gujarat, wear their traditional-cultural-ethnic dresses so proudly during Navratri. In other parts of the country, youths hardly ever wear ethnic dresses of their own culture, but in Gujarat, it becomes a fashion in trend, so what if just for Navratri.”

Kamya Sachdeva, another north Indian girl can sing several Gujarati garba songs, thanks to the coaching sessions, where every song is replayed many times. She says, “My friends from Delhi and U.P. are coming to enjoy Navratri here. They just can’t believe that in Gujarat, girls can move out late in the night without worrying about the security issues like elsewhere.”

All these Non-Gujarati guys and girls have purchased traditional Gujarati dresses, turbans, mojdis, ornaments, chaniya cholis and whatever possible in their budget. And they are ready to rock the ground.

Navratri begins today. Ambe Maat Ki Jay.