Being a hardcore Gujju (Gujarati) and a Bombayite by birth, the street dancer in me that comes alive and out in full force every Navratri, is restless this year. Navratri, which when translated into English literally means '9 nights', is usually 9 nights of worship and dancing for us. Garba and Dandiya are the big cultural dances that are performed. Garba is done before the worshipping rituals (called Aarti) while Dandiya is performed after the Aarti. Some of us have been performing as a troupe at the local celebrations over the last couple of years. This year all the festivities related to this…
Read moreKids and pandemic, pandemic and kids. No, I’m NOT looking for a pattern or a palindrome here. Instead, just turning our attention to the silent sufferers in this entire saga, our children. While this is an unprecedented situation for the entire world and the human race in general, I see that it has impacted our young children to a great extent, physically, mentally and emotionally. To start with, they were suddenly asked to stop going to schools and abandon their regular busy-as-hell lives. Unexpected school holidays are always welcome for children, but here there were caveats. They couldn't spend this time…
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