Dhan dhana dhan - go the drums of Dandiya-Raas dances as the first night of Navaratri twinkles with stars this year. With the jubilant processions of Ganesh Visarjan just over and the fortnight of Pitrupaksha being the quiet hiatus between two of India's biggest festivals - Ganesh Chaturthi and Navaratri - millions of Indians and India fans are gathering their energy to stay up late on nine starry autumn nights to dance away in halls and open spaces which are bedecked with festoons and flowers! Most of these venues have already been booked with musicians who belt out not only Bollywood numbers, Garba songs in many languages but even disco and rock numbers that provide rollicking rhythms to the young and restless revelers around the world.

The face of Navaratri celebrations as they unfold in 2007 has changed dramatically, as has the face of every Indian festival in the past decade. Today, Dandia-Raas gatherings on Navaratri nights are truly huge and generate funds that are truly awesome with sponsorship money, consumer advertisement collections and big gate money collected from participants. Some organizers, like the Sankalp Group in Mumbai, plan the events months ahead of the festival to make sure that the funds flow in like a torrent and keep the event managers in good humour throughout the year.

Huge demand
There is now a special community of Dandia musicians and singers who are so much in demand at this time of the year that they have to be booked years ahead. One such singer is Falguni Pathak, now famous as the Dandia Queen throughout Gujarat and Maharashtra. It is said that Falguni cuts special albums just before the Navaratri festival to meet the huge demand created by Dandia-Raas groups all over the country and accepts personal appearance contracts worth crores of rupees in the above two states. Many sports clubs and exhibition grounds in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot and other cities remain closed to the public because of the Dandia-Raas dances every night. It is said that event mangers like Sankalp create a budget of several crores to present huge shows with thousands dancing away among the glittering lights every night of Navaratri. Additionally, homes of the elite, co-operative housing societies, social clubs, local grounds and the bylanes of the cities too host Dandia nights where young and old showcase an incredible amount of energy with their dancing.

Some enthusiastic dancers even attend classes and take professional help to hone their skills of Dandia steps so that their group wins all the prizes offered by various Mandals or organizers! Bollywood stars, playback singers and other social celebrities are invited to satisfy the public thirst for a 'darshan' of celebrities at such functions. Stalls of novelties, religious artifacts, handicrafts, food and drinks etc make every Dandia venue a fairyland which offers entertainment and pleasure of all varieties.

Flashy affairs
However, just a decade ago, Dandia-Raas gatherings were not as big as they are today. The celebration of Navaratri has become noisier and flashier as the years have passed because of many reasons. Majorly, Navaratri is celebrated in Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan with Dandia-Raas dances.

Elsewhere, as in Maharashtra or Bengal, this festival ushers in the worship of Durga, the goddess of power and plentitude. As the Gujaratis say, "Jahan rehta hai ek Gujarati, wahan rehta hai Gujarat!" In keeping with this saying, Gujaratis have taken the culture of the Dandia-Raas to every part of the world where they live - and being a trading community, they have travelled far and wide to set up communities in the UK, USA, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Middle East and several countries in Africa. Wherever there are Gujarati - and now increasingly Indian - communities, Dandia-Raas nights have become a vehicle to bring people of Indian origin together to share the fun-loving, celebratory spirit of Indian culture.

Secondly, there is a great deal more money in the hands of Indians of all classes today than ever before. Spending lavishly on all festivals is one of the manifestations of this new money in the hands of Indians.
Not only are the decorations and music at the venues becoming more and more lavish, but also the clothes worn by men and women - shimmering ghagra cholis for women and folk costumes for men and children - flood the markets weeks before the festival. Many enthusiastic dancers take leave from work to organize and participate in such events.

Thirdly, Dandia-Raas events have become a nocturnal rendezvous for men and women looking for 'partners'. With sexual freedom percolating to the middle and working classes, these glittering nights, when thousands are engrossed in dancing to music that drowns every other sound, there are innumerable opportunities to sneak away for a quiet smooch or a sexual episode. Drinking, merry making and wild encounters among rowdy crowds has become a routine feature of Navaratri celebrations.