What is Chennai doing this Navratri? Dancing away at garba and dandiya nights

In Chennai, traditional community garba co-exists with DJ-led mashups in clubs and malls. For Navratri, MetroPlus goes on an all-night trail

It is 10.30pm. From deep inside the bylanes of Sowcarpet echoes the popular Gujarati ballad ‘Pa va the gadh thi’: Lugging my mirrored, sunshine yellow dupatta, I convince myself that the night is still young and walk into what seems like a quiet residential society only to be met with a glittery pandal, which is quickly filling up.

Whole families walk in as multi-coloured chaniya cholis and sequined odanis take over. Nimble arms sway while quick feet follow. They join friends and strangers, creating a rhythmic reverie in movement that wafts through the night. We are on Day 5 of Navratri, and Stop 1 of our night-long garba hop at Oswal Gardens in Korukkupet.  

Chennai’s garba culture is well defined. From when whole streets in Sowcarpet were cordoned off for community-led dandiya/garba years ago, to today when traditional garba co-exists with DJ-led mashups in clubs and malls, the festival has marked its strong presence in different parts of the city. Here, each venue adopts a different flavour yet the end goal remains the same: celebration and community. We set out on a night-long garba trail to learn more about garba.

At garba and dandiya raas in Vidyasagar Oswal Gardens (for details, call 9840093995) an area of 18,000 sq ft is assigned for the event. Abinandhan, who is part of the organising committee, says, “We have people coming in from at least 15 different locations in the city, including Shollinganallur in OMR. For the first four days, the crowd usually comes up to 1,000 per day. The last two days might see up to 4,000 people.”

The event is now in its 10th year. Even COVID did not deter the festivities, says a proud Abinandan, quickly adding that all social distancing measures were enforced and that entry was restricted to only people in the society, which is otherwise ticketed. While 1am marks the cut-off time for the first four days, the nights can go on till at least 7am for the last few days. 

While dancing is what drives every garba night, looking the part is equally important. “Normally in Chennai, it is very difficult to get these dresses. We have people from five or six flats in the society who bring the dresses mostly from Gujarat and Rajasthan, and sometimes Mumbai as well,” says Abinandan adding that the outfits are either bought or rented out at this time.

Speaker number 4 is not working. Please take care of it immediately: a message blares out of Naresh Kumar’s walkie-talkie as I step into my next stop for the day which is also the oldest garba night in the city at Dharmaprakash Kalyana Mandapam in Purasaiwalkam (for details, call 9003210657).