Ganesh Takes Us to the Garba

Of all of the experiences that we've had here in Mumbai exploring this fascinatingly diverse and chaotic city, last night may have been the most memorable.  Our driver Ganesh invited us to celebrate Navrati with his family at their 'colony' up in Borivali, a northern suburb.  Their colony is a middle class neighborhood comprising of about 20 six-story buildings with two-room apartments -- living room and kitchen -- organized around several common outdoor areas.  This in itself was an experience.  As we went up to their apartment, neighbors poured in to say hello and have their pictures taken with us.  Ganesh and his family were very proud to show off their 'boss.'

We chatted mostly with his daughter Punam, second from the left, as she is on the India National Women's cricket team and speaks excellent English.  She left for Hong Kong this morning for a three-week international tournament and proudly showed us pictures of her playing and of course, posing with the cricket God, Sachin Tendulkar, as they practice at the same field.

Before we went, Ganesh's wife Gita gave us a traditional blessing with some of the strongest tikka paint  we've had in 2+ years in India -- it's still on our foreheads after a shower and a good scrub this morning.

                                       

From their apartment, we watched the crowd gathering on the lawn and heard the music crescendo so that by the time we joined in, there were well over 500 people all dancing.  The dance, called the Garba, is basically a two-step dance where the participants form a circle and slowly rotate counter-clockwise.  The participants would mimic each other's variations on the basic steps and through innovation and changes in the music various additions would be made.  Needless to say, Rachel was a real pro and the kids kept encouraging Mr. Reid to do the steps more correctly!

As with many experiences, we were overwhelmed with kindness by the people at the dance.  One woman just grabbed Rachel's hand and dragged her in to the circle, several boys were constantly surrounding me with encouragement, and Ganesh and his family were dancing right beside us.

The whole reason for this festival, nine nights in total, is to celebrate the Goddess Durga (pictured below).  Several of the boys I was chatting with referred to her as the Mother and we've also heard her referred to as the warrior Goddess.  She is particularly popular with Gujarati and Bengali Hindus so naturally, all of Mumbai seems to be in celebration!

After learning the steps and enjoying the locals, Punam, with her cricket connections, had arranged for us to get passes to a more elaborate private party.  Unfortunately, the party ended shortly after we arrived due to a miscommunication, but we still got to see well over 3,000 people dressed up dancing to a live band.  Interestingly, there wasn't one big circle like at the colony party we had just came from, but instead hundreds of smaller circles had developed.  Each had a different group of families or friends.  Many were filled with elaborately dressed Gujaratis and what impressed us most was the excitement amongst the 20-30 year olds who were happily dressed in traditional costumes dancing up a storm.  With all the different groups, the big stage, video screens, the colorful lights and flashy costumes, it felt like one big Indian Phish concert.

With the festival halfway through, no doubt we will experience and witness more of this amazing festival this coming week.  On Thursday, in true Mumbai fashion, families will bring their Durga statues to the beaches up and down the coast to solemnly immerse them in the sea.  

We continue feel so blessed to be a part of this extraordinary city where the culture is so vibrant and the people so welcoming.