Weekend Navratri Plans? Visit This Website to Find Garba Events Near You

Ahmedabad: Planning to dance to Garba tunes this weekend? Finding a nearby Garba venue during Navratri, which has often been a hassle, has become easier, thanks to a free website developed by a Gujarati software engineer.

Called Nearby Navratri, the platform brings Garba events across India onto a single digital map, allowing revellers to check venues, timings, ticket prices and directions without downloading an app or creating an account.

Developed by Rajesh Hadiya, a 30-year-old software engineer based in Pune, the website went live on October 10, the night before Navratri. It has since attracted 19,652 users and features more than 700 Garba event listings across over 30 cities nationwide.

The platform aims to solve a common problem faced by Garba enthusiasts every year: finding events nearby when information is scattered across ticketing platforms, Instagram posts and WhatsApp groups.

“I’m a Gujarati and a Garba lover, and every Navratri I had the same question: where are the Garbas near me? Finding the answer was frustrating every year. So, I thought, if I have this problem, many others must have it too,” Hadiya said.

How Nearby Navratri works

The website allows users to view Garba events on a map and access essential details, including the venue, event date, timings, starting ticket price and directions. Where available, visitors can also follow links to booking pages.

The platform works directly through a mobile or desktop browser and is currently free to use, with no advertisements or login requirements.

Hadiya, who has more than eight years of experience working with Android and mobile applications, said he built the website’s first version in just two days with assistance from Claude, an artificial intelligence tool.

The project has cost him only a few hundred rupees so far, with the domain being the primary expense. He uses free development tools and Cloudflare’s free hosting services to keep operating costs low.

Garba listings across Gujarat and other cities

Nearby Navratri covers major cities in Gujarat, including Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Gandhinagar. The map also includes smaller centres such as Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Gandhidham, Bhuj, Navsari and Vapi.

Beyond Gujarat, listings span Mumbai and its surrounding areas, Pune, Bengaluru, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata and Chennai, among other cities.

Society and community Garba events also included

One of the website’s key features is its focus on smaller, community-led celebrations rather than limiting listings to large commercial venues.

Organisers and members of the public can submit details of Garba events for free, helping expand the map and making neighbourhood celebrations easier to discover.

Hadiya said smaller events remain a priority as he continues to expand the platform. However, society Garba events are included only when they are open to the public.

A free digital initiative for Navratri revellers

The website is a community-focused initiative intended to make it easier for people to participate in Navratri celebrations without spending time searching across multiple platforms.

Garba enthusiasts and local organisers can visit https://nearbynavratri.in to find events near them or submit details of their own public Garba celebrations.