The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : It’s Dandiya time, Bollywood style

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Wednesday, Oct 01, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

It’s Dandiya time, Bollywood style

Deepika Arwind

For the young, it is party time, wearing all that finery

Celebration time: Come Navaratri and it’s Dandiya time for the young and old alike.

Bangalore: Being one generation removed from those who consider themselves fairly “traditional” makes room for a world of re-interpretation. The month is a mosaic-October because the festivities dotting the weeks are different and the mood frenzied.

As people empty out their pockets for celebrations, doing what they do every year, young people allow themselves a different take on festivity.

For over a week now, many Gujarati households in the city have been putting together various elements that go into celebrating Navaratri — the elaborate puja that spans nine days. The younger folk find themselves putting together a festival of their own in parallel.

Prateek Thakkar says his entire colony of friends in Mahalaxmi Layout will let their hair down at the Disco Dandiya in their layout, which will take place after the day’s pujas. “It is an elaborate affair at home, but things have changed a lot with young people,” he says, adding that they want to go out and party after the family celebrations.

Manisha Jha has just begun working, and says that along with people from her workplace, she will enjoy Dandiya Ras, Bollywood style. “Once, I even dragged my family to a club where we all danced,” she smiles. It also seems that any outfit goes that day: jeans and glittery cholis, vests with sequined ghagras.

Of the 31 different kinds of Dasara celebration, the Bengalee Association’s is perhaps the biggest. A large pandal on RBANMS Grounds, near Ulsoor lake. After wading through crowds and stalls, with music and colour, the younger lot decide to do “their own thing”. “Whether it is a private party or a lounge, there is almost certainly a party through the night,” says Shohel M.

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