One fervour, many flavours as City celebrates Navaratri

The beginning of Navaratri on Tuesday will be characterised by a series of religious and cultural events got up by different communities across the City.

Navaratri, the first nine days of ‘Ashweeja’ month of Hindu calendar, is celebrated across the country as a mark of victory of good over evil.

"Being a confluence of various cultures, Bangalore will also witness a series of events organised by different communities based on their customs and traditions. Apart from ‘Gombe Habba’ by the Kannadigas, religious and cultural programmes will be hosted by Gujarati Samaaj, Marwadi Samaj and the Bengali community.

A ‘Gombe Thottilu’ (doll-cradle) will be organised at the Orion Mall on Tuesday, where dolls on mythological and historical themes will be on display. Music and other cultural competitions will follow the grand finale on October 23 at the amphitheatre of the mall. The RMKV Silks, the organiser, said that the Gombe Thottilu was being organised to revive the fast-fading tradition.

In keeping with their decades-old tradition, the Gujarati Samaj will organise ‘Raas Garba’, at many places from Tuesday for the next eight days. ‘Raas Garba’ hosted by the Gujarati Vaishnav Samaj is the most popular in the City so far. This year too the event will be organised at the Palace Grounds where about 5,000 people are expected to turn up.

Another popular ‘Raas Garba’ event will be at BES College Grounds, Jayanagar, which will be organised by Jayanagar Samyukt Mandal. Dinesh Patel, one of the organisers of the Jayanagar event, said nearly 800 people would take part. The event will be open to those who have ‘Donor Pass’, which can be obtained by contributing to the event.

The Bengali community will organise ‘Durga Pooja’ in traditional Bengali style at over 50 places, including the one organised at RBNMS Ground near Commercial Street, by Bengali Association, one of the oldest organisations in the City. The association said that the 63rd Durga Pooja would begin on October 20, and culminate with the immersion of the idols on October 25.