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Airports, trains and swimming pools: Weird places where people have done Garba

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Akshata Kamath
Akshata KamathOct 07, 2022 | 08:00

Airports, trains and swimming pools: Weird places where people have done Garba

Airports, local trains, and swimming pools are the new Garba hotspots in 2022. Garba lovers in India took to dancing at random public places to celebrate Navratri.

After 2 years of Covid isolation and torturous lockdowns, Indians were quiet excited for festivities to resume to get back to what they had lost in the last 2 years: Peace of mind and the bliss of dancing to Garba during Navratri.

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Image: PTI

As it was finally time to make our social life exciting again, it looked like people needed a break. I went to a Garba event for two evenings at a place called Nesco in Mumbai which was a Covid Centre in 2020. Finally this year, it felt as if life was too good to be true.

Garba events in 2022 were highly crowded, had more enthusiastic crowds, and everyone seemed to be in a mood where they could break into a dance at any given point in time and at any possible place that seemed good enough for dancing.

And no, no one needs fancy grounds or expensive tickets anymore. An airport or a local train is just fine. Navratri 2022 witnessed people dance at quite unexpected places:     

1. Airports: 

  • Mumbai: It was Nikhil Chinappa who first broke the news about the unassuming thing that was happening at the Mumbai airport. People were having their own Garba party. At the airport.

A day later, the Mumbai Airport tweeted that they had organised the Dandia Raas and Garba for passengers and airport staff.  

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  • Ahmedabad: Being at the centre of the Garba universe, the Ahmedabad airport saw many people dance to Garba tunes during multiple days of Navratri. Though the ones who were present at the airport thoroughly enjoyed the surprise, the ones who weren't around talked about their FOMO too. 
  • Bengaluru: Passengers at the Hubballi airport in Karnataka celebrated Dussehra with their own Garba party. 
  • Bhopal: As the flight from Bhopal to Ahmedabad was delayed on the last day of Navratri, air hostesses and the airport staff began dancing at Bhopal's Raja Bhoj Airport. 
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  • Bhubaneswar, Odisha: Bhubaneswar's BPI Airport too saw Navratri celebrations with Garba as passengers and airport staff enjoyed themselves. 

2. Local trains: A lot of Mumbaikars travel on the local trains at a set time and take the same train every day. Since many have been following this trend for years, it's not surprising (at least for Mumbai folks) to dance together with your travel buddies on the local train, especially when you haven't done so in the last 2 years. In fact, now that the AC trains are here, things have only got better for impromptu dancers. 

3. Swimming pools: They say never underestimate a Gujarati's obsession with playing Garba, coz they will surprise you. Now if people start training for Garba in swimming pools of all places, what more can you even say? 

After two gloomy years, it is finally great to see that we are going back to normal.

Last updated: October 07, 2022 | 08:00
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