Dandiya – the ultimate ball room dance!

The Navratri are over and so is Durga Puja – while loyalty towards Durga Puja is inherited, affinity for Dandiya was acquired much later – after coming to Mumbai.

Somehow always believed in participative entertainment – be it sports, any outdoor activity or other entertainment. Found it more interesting to pick up my own racquet and hit a ball on the tennis court rather than watch someone else do the same thing on TV and so was the case with dancing.

But dancing is a bit complicated especially who got no talent for such things like yours truly, however, found simple western ball room dances like the Waltz, Foxtrot and Cha Cha Cha very convenient way of relaxing provided someone had the sense to play suitable music for it in any occasion – but such occasions were rare.

Western Ball room dances I suppose were originally designed for mass participation and was therefore the steps were simple enough for a normal person to feel the joy of dancing. But with more vigorous dance forms over taking classical western dances it is rarely that one gets to indulge in these dances.

About three years back a Gujrati couple taught me the basics steps of Garba and Dandiya – Just enough to avoid feeling awkward when the music comes calling –  I could feel the similarities of western classical ball room dance and the Dandiya – even the Dandiya is meant for mass participation with simple steps where any one can enjoy the simple joy of dancing.

Last Saturday was such a day or rather an evening – with our own society organizing a Dandiya – it was pure joy which one feels only when one actually participates.

Talking about Dandiya – the enterprising musical geniuses of Mumbai usually converts practically any tune to a Dandiya tune – they have not left even ‘Raghupati Raghava – raja ram ….”. It was therefore surprising not to find the latest chart buster ‘Munni Badnaam hui’ in a converted tune. When I asked the DJ about it – he smiled and said ‘Hum itna popular gaane ko barbad nahin karte (We normally do not spoil such a popular song). It reminded me of another incident log time back – not able to find a ticket for the movie ‘Gandhi’ when it was being screened in Regal theatre I was desperate and finally approached a known black marketer for a ticket. He said –“Hum Gandhi ke liye black nahin karte”