New year, new beginnings — that’s how Gudi Padwa 2022 will go down in Thane resident Priyanka Patil Gaikar’s diary. After years of longingly eyeing women in radiant nauvaris, saffron phetas and cool aviators, cruising through the bylanes of Girgaum on their bikes during Gudi Padwa, the 32-year-old, too, led a shobha yatra at her Wagle Estate office on a shiny black bullet, yesterday. The rally was organised as part of the company Infra.Market’s pre-Gudi Padwa celebrations. 

Like Gaikar, today, scores of women will deck up in their nine-yard paithanis and ride out to usher in the Maharashtrian New Year, after two years of muted revelries. The shobha yatras also feature a medley of larger-than-life figurines of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, lezim dancers, dhol-tasha performers, gymnasts, and men, women and children celebrating in their fineries. Along with colourful memories of gudis hanging on windows and balconies, Gaikar recalls passing by the vibrant shobha yatras while shuttling from Thane to her ajji’s Sewri residence, where her aunts, uncles and cousins would gather annually. “Initially, women would walk with flags in the processions, but soon they started taking over dhol-tasha and lezim performances. Since 2003-2004, we started seeing women bikers joining in, too. It was so inspiring to see them, riding shoulder to shoulder with the men,” reminisces Gaikar who belongs to the Agri community in Alibaug.