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Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
The festival of nine nights is upon us all and the city of dreams shows how to party.
It's the one time of the year when even the most conservative families permit their young ones to step out of their houses past their bedtime. In many ways, Navratri, especially as it is celebrated in western India, is the festival of the young. After all, nine nights of dancing and revelry isn't everyone's cup of tea.
A young enthusiast performs the garba the traditional Gujarati dance in an outfit that seems to have every colour you could think of.
Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
Falguni Pathak is perhaps the best-known singer in the garba circuit. Pathak, a Mumbai-based artiste, performs at one event every year for nine nights, charging an exorbitant amount.
19-year-old Naiya Mehta, a Falguni Pathak fan, confesses that it's rather tiring to travel to the venue but 'once I hear her voice, my exhaustion disappears'. Many Pathak supporters would agree.
Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
A young fellow seems to have decided he's had enough of all the dancing for the night and sits himself down amidst a riot of colours.
Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
Amruta (27) and Niyati Patel (25) live it up at Falguni Pathak's garba performance. The two sisters -- one is a physiotherapist and the other a dentist -- have been visiting a new garba performance every night.
Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
Two young ladies go about their usual dandiya routine in practiced graceful moves.
Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
This young lady twirls to show off her vibrant ghagra at a garba mandal in Mumbai.
Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
Aashna (19) prefers to keep her outfits simple, though she is quick to tell us that she's had nine options for the nine nights of partying.
Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
Taking a leap of faith? This young participant seems to defy gravity and performs an evidently remarkable dance move at a garba performance in Mumbai.
Bright outfits, dizzying moves: Navratri Garba in Mumbai
Shreeyank Sakaria, Karishma Kothari, Ruchita, Nishita Jain and Vishal Ghandat who love going for the nine night of dancing, prefer to add only just a bit of traditional touch to their otherwise comfortable western outfits.