High on dance!

What could be a better way to celebrate than dance! And if there is one dance festival that I would always want to be a part of, it would be the Navratri Daandiya Festival in Ahmedabad.

For even before I could figure out their faces, I identified a bunch of limbs flying about animatedly, but in absolute tandem. They moved as if the world around them didn’t exist at all. I had to focus really hard to count them; five men dressed in bright, mirrored festive attire with their arms filling in for the missing daandiya sticks.

No matter what song played, they had their choreography ready. And everyone seemed to know instantly what they were going to do. Their energy had me hooked. But above all, it was the insane synchronization that rose the level of their happiness or should I say madness to the next level.

I had never seen men on such a high without having a drop of alcohol. The songs played were all devotional and not some cheap Bollywood item numbers but that didn’t affect their moves at all, neither did they dampen their spirit. The guys were matching up to the girls and how!

And this was not that case with just this group. The huge exhibition ground was bursting with blissful souls, men, women, and children, spreading such cheer and enthusiasm that one couldn’t remain untouched by it for long. So, casting aside my inhibitions, I too raised  my invisible daandiyas and turned around hoping to match a step here and there with the co-ordinated groups.