AT THE ALL GOA DANDIYA MASTI 2024…a celebration of culture and dance at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Indoor Stadium on October 13, 2024. It was the biggest dandiya/garba event held in Goa to date with the Gujarati community turning up in strength. It was organized by the Panjim Gujarati Samaj in collaboration with various sponsors…old and young participated in the garba and dandiya ras dancing. Amongst the guests of honor was Gujarati actor Manoj Joshi who played a role in the organization of the event which featured several competitions with exciting prizes. Ministers from Goa who came were welcomed with a colourful “phento” (turban) from Gujarat! Reportedly about a 100 phento were given away. The women were in their element clearly as they sportingly put all their belongings in the centre and did the garba enthusiastically…the Gujarati community of Goa was in full swing and so were some youngsters from Kerala and Rajasthan who heard about the event and came to participate in the revelry.
Text & Pics by Tara Narayan
For the Gujarati community in Goa in Panjim on October 13, 2024 at the Dr Shyama Mukherjee Indoor Stadium at the Bambolim plateau…there was dandiya ras and garba evening till late in the night. It was sponsored by the Panjim Gujarati Samaj in collaboration with a host of Gujarati businesses families long settled in Goa and the Directorate of Art & Culture, Goa!
THIS year Goa’s Gujarati community’s Dussehra finale get-together was an extravaganza of dandiya ras and garba dancing – both professional and homespun! It looked like almost half of the estimated total 6,000 odd Gujarati population old and young and toddlers, were there at the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee In-door Stadium in capital city Panjim, on the evening of September 13, 2024. This year it was a huge razzmatazz and much-sponsored event with competition entries, all eyes taking in the dancing teams from Madgaon, Vasco da Gama, Mapusa and Panjim participating in the competition.
Together the dances twirled and swirled in perfect synchronization to the music and songs belting out from upstage, there were trophies and prizes to be won for performing energetic dandiya ras with dandiya sticks, including the traditional circular garba which is the traditional of community dancing to celebrate during the nine nights of Navratri which ends with Dussera.
There was an eye-dazzling scene of costumes with most dancers in chaniya or ghagra-choli outfits and starry odhani fluttering around them, some of the male dandiya ras participants were attired in the Kutchi or Saurashtra “kediyu”(frock-styled kurta-dhoti or chorno combo outfit) complete with “phento” (the Gujarati turban).” Everything including chunky jewelry real and unreal of the women scintillated and soon the floor was a sparkling floating mass of confetti…there was no curbing anyone as the night deepened and friends took to grouping up and dancing the usual garba with movements gentle or dashingly spritely — depending on the mood of the music. Singers Nilesh Thakkar and Rushi Bhanushali did the honors on stage at the All Goa Dandiya Masti 2024 event.
Altogether it made for a kaleidoscope of fervent celebration of goddess Amba (the principal goddesses of Navaratri festival for Gujaratis, say another avatar of the goddess Durga of the Bengali Durga Puja). Pretty much everyone was colorfully attired and bejeweled adding to the colorful festive gathering. The mix of music moved from traditional to pop Gujarati songs and imagine doing the dandiya ras even to Goa’s “He pori kona chi!” Crazy, yes.
Although entry was free it was clearly a hugely sponsored event with everything hired – a pair of dandiya sticks for Rs100, there was bottled water to buy, etc, and the cafeteria set up in a distant room near entry point had Ahuja Caterers doing live stations of chola-bhatura, veggie snacks of all kinds, chaat numbers and of course pau-bhaji, Manchurian noodles and stir-fried rice, etc. Desserts included ice-cream and one couldn’t notice how much everyone likes ice-creams along with sizzling hot jalebi!
Guests of honor on the dais at the dandiya masti event? Amongst politicians were to be seen a relaxed Sadanand Tanavade (MP, Rajya Sabha), Rohan Khaunte (Tourism Minister, Goa), Govind Gaude (Art & Culture Minister, Goa) and members of the Panjim Gujarati Samaj which included deputy mayor Lata Parekh and hubby Yatin, some of the crème de la crème of the Gujarati business community in Goa which included Yogita Gosalia of the Big G mall in Margao. Naturally there was a rush for selfies with the chief guest, the popular Gujarati actor Manoj Joshi, who had come down with his team from Gujarat to lend some flamboyant touches to the event.
