Navarathri fever: City readies for nine days of diyas and dandiya

As Navarathri nears, the streets of Sowcarpet wear a festive look. The colours are brighter, clay diyas and artefacts have found their place on shop shelves and windows, and shopkeepers are blasting traditional dandiya music that adds to the festive mood. S Alka, a third year commerce student, has been through over a hundred dresses already, but is yet to find one she likes. “I save up through the year to buy a new dress for Navaratri. I play dandiya on all the nine days, but at least on one day, I have to wear something new. On other days, I pick out something from my old collection. I am looking specifically for the kind of lehenga that Katrina Kaif has worn in her recent movies,” she says, as she shop hops to find the one she is after. 

Arihant Fashion, a wholesale retail outlet on Mint Street has been having a steady flow of customers. “We start getting our stock 10 to 15 days before the festivities begin. We get the special Navarathri dresses from Surat in Gujarat. Apart from the traditional dresses for men and women, we also keep contemporary designs ready as today’s generation is highly inspired by Bollywood. We get them from Mumbai and Rajasthan. We also have a special collection for kids,” says Deepak Jain, store manager. 

Dresses of this kind cost anything between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 depending on the embellishments. Even the dandiya sticks are specially brought from Mumbai and Gujarat. “There are regular wooden sticks that are available for Rs 30 to 50, and then we have the special ones made of metal that are available for more than Rs 100. They have a hole in the middle where one can place a finger to rotate the stick. These sticks are used by professional dancers who participate in competitions,” says G. Muralidhar, of Rajasthan Jewellers, who has set up a separate shop for selling dandiya sticks and the red shawls, usually used for pujas. “We cover the idol of goddess Durga with the red chunni during the pujas. This is one of the most important customs and we buy a special shawl for this purpose,” says Shanta Kumari, a housewife. 

Shop owners are expecting more footfalls in days to come as Navarathri approaches. They don’t seem threatened by the online shopping trend. Manoj Kumar, a businessman, says, “People come to Sowcarpet exclusively to shop for festivals. There has been no dip in the business this year and we are getting customers from all over the city.”