AHMEDABAD: A round of garba dancing lifts the spirits of Gujaratis at any time of the year. We’ve seen revellers wearing raincoats over their traditional attire and helmets and dancing; a group of Gujarati tourists doing garba near the Eiffel Tower in Paris; people enjoying garba on terraces on the evening of Uttarayan and we’ve seen Covid-19 patients in hospital wards doing garba while wearing PPE kits just to keep their enthusiasm going – that’s how much it matters to them.
But now, thanks to the pandemic, there’s no permission to hold garbas be it at local level or at commercial venues and all Navratri enthusiasts have is nostalgia.
“All I’ve been doing is revisiting pictures and videos from last year’s Navratri, posting pictures on social media and playing garba songs at home so that I can just relive the good times of yore,” said Anita Shah, a professional.
While many are reliving their memories on social media, there are others who are just trying to get festive feels by dressing up in traditional attire. A group of friends in Jodhpur area of the city got together, all decked up in chaniya-choli and traditional attire and made merry over a meal, just to keep the Navratri spirit alive.