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Navaratri Venues Come to Life
with Dandiya Beats

DUBAI — Even with the mad rush and several hurdles to get to the various Dandiya venues, residents of UAE are celebrating the Navaratri, a nine-day Indian festival welcoming Goddess Durga, with gusto.

Colourful dandiyas (sticks) and costumes and foot-thumping Bollywood mixes are making a great comeback this season.

The Disco Dandiya 2008, organised by Panache Entertainment at the Zabeel Park in Dubai for three nights, had a huge venue, great music performed by popular DJs and free food for VIPs. Despite all the facilities, the organisers were not able to control the crowd.

They also had shortage of drinking water. Ehab Ashraf, who had travelled all the way from Ajman to attend the event, said, “It was amazing, well organised, but the biggest problem was that they had run out of drinking water within an hour of the event. I reached the place around 8pm, and by around 10.30pm, there was no water left.”

Ehab and his friends who came for the event with great expectations did not have to return disappointed.

“We did not have to give our tickets away. We had expected a huge crowd and I guess we came prepared for it,” said Ehab.

Dolly Gir and her family went prepared.

“We carried bottles of water with us and they (organizers) sold other refreshments like soft drinks and Indian snacks. The entrance of the park was very crowded. We joined the queue at 10pm, and got in only by 11pm.”

Officials at Panache Entertainment declined to comment on the situation in Zabeel Park.

All those people who have missed out on the fun need not be disappointed because various other venues are offering action-packed Dandiya fun.

The India Club Dubai has Navaratri Dhamaka 2008 which began on Thursday and will have shows on October 9 and October 10.

The show begins at 9.30pm. Members of the club will get free entry on presenting their membership cards. Primary members can also bring in guests. Entrance fee of guests is Dh50 on Thursday and Dh40 on Friday.

Rahul. N who attended the Navaratri Dhamaka on Thursday said, “We faced problems with the crowd, but it was manageable. The music was good, especially the percussionists, and dhol players.”

Karzz Dandiya Raas 2008, which will take place on October 10 in Wonderland, Al Garhoud, in promotion with the upcoming Bollywood film Karzz, is another Dandiya event to look forward to. Vanitha Kapoor, a spokesperson for Warehouse Entertainment, said, “We are bringing popular Gujarati musician Jaykar Bhojak, who is often called the King of Dandiya. We have also lined up a lot of gift prizes like jackets and music CDs of Karzz.”

dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com

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