No personal feelings please and with due respect to all garba lovers.
No harm intented to religious sentiments.
I moved to Ahmedabad just one month before Tatas decided to move to Ahmedabad ;) - a truly amazing city for sure, but this city two serious problems , first it comes in dry state - so hard time boozing, second this is the land of GARBA - the traditional Gujarati dance performed especially during the the festival before dussera - Nau Durga. It was my first garba season here and I've some tonic for you -
1.) Every body says Garba khelo (meaning - play) , now can you tell me - how do we play a dance ?
2.) After doing garba, here is my definition :-
" It is an activity where people form circle or ellipse and rotate while clapping in a weird fashion and everybody thinks that we are dancing. "
I went to all the famous places in Ahmedabad and saw so many garbas - all I was reminded of Godhra riots - so much commotion - hardly any cultural relevance.
3.) Every Garba begins with prayer of Ma Durga and this dance is said to be performed for the goddess. I wonder if ever the goddess told mortal beings to "wear some sort of sexy back less dress for ladies and scare crow like dress for men and then dance whole night to make her happy."
The money and time spent on real festival of Ma durga is something like :-
Money on Garba : Money on Pooja :: 10000: 0.01
time doing garba : time doing pooja : : 9 hours : 6 mins
4.) Then this must be an interesting fact -
" The sale of condoms increases drastically during the garba season !!! "
check out google for real facts and figures, here is one such news from DNA :-
www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?
I am fascinated by the whole hyporcricy in our society but neways, now I understand why they call a dance - " Khelo" coz its actually a big play - a foreplay, may be.
4 comments:
Hmm buddy, what I "infer" from your post is you have tried to give a comical twist to a deeply burried frustration. If I can try to read your mind, you feel
"Lets first try to make it clear. Is this festival for god or for enjoyment? Then celebrate it accordingly. Why dance around and ****-around and then finally say its all for God?"
If my mind-reading is true .. honestly this has been in my mind for a long time when I see not only Garba but also Ganesh Chaturti visarjan and Holi.. especially holi when those who don't want to participate (like me) are treated as outcasts! :) I guess its India and shit happens! :)
...as for the post. I think its a "comment-provoking" post... so good start! :)
Well you are close to correctness - but the frustration part is not there, rather I am deeply upset and amused by the whole stuff.
I agree to the point which Shashi had made over here, Being a garba lover i too say that i do it for Goddess Durga and upto some extent i can say that i realy do that.
Just to add on the point which Shashi has made, there are people who do play garba but they forget even to take blessings of maa durga,they even don't stay for the aarti...
hey shashi m a gujarati and m aware these things..one thing is ppl here dont say garba khelo..they say garba gaao(means sing garba)for which i m also amused coz one dances and hardly any1 sings(besides d ones on the stage.)
regarding the other issues related its a well knwn fact among the ppl here dat sales of condoms increases during garba period... but there r somethings wherein ppl just close their eyes 2 and rest in blissful ignorance..thats d thing happening here..m not defending any1 bt simply tryin to stress on a point.
Also other thing dats worth looin at is gujarat is termed as a 'dry state' whereas the maximum illegal booze sales are done in gujarat only..one should also look at that point wheather the point and the pride in being called a 'dry state' is being served or not..
-Chintan
Post a Comment