Team MiD DAY visited Mumbai's three most popular dandiya venues at Goregaon, Borivli and Ghatkopar to report about the celebrations. This is what we saw

Raaj 2011, Preeti-Pinky Dandiya
Location: Police Hockey Ground, Ghatkopar
Entry fee: Rs 100 per day; Rs 500 for the entire season



It is a must for any dandiya organiser to have great foot taping music to pump up the crowd. This dandiya, along with some lip smacking food, lived up to the expectations. Besides, special attention was paid to security and about 200 personnel were pressed into action in and around the ground to provide a hassle-free event for about 6,000 revellers. The installation of colourful lights added to the atmosphere. While garba started at around 8 pm, groups kept on pouring in till 9 pm. What was commendable was the fact that despite the celebrations, the organisers adhered to the 10 pm deadline, though the parting speeches took some 15 extra minutes.

Even the parking space was ample as nearly 500 cars were parked on the road outside the venue, another 100 were parked at the ground adjacent to the venue.

Commuting woes
Lack of autorickshaws outside the ground acted as a killjoy for the merrymakers. While many waited for long, others preferred to walk to the main road to find an auto. Those who had travelled from the Central suburbs, such as Mulund and Thane, had the hardest time.

Voices
Neelima Virkar, a Mulund resident "Though the rickshaws are easily available, I had to wait almost 15 minutes to get one. This happened because people were competing with each other to find one."

Dhiren Mehta, a Vidyavihar residentu00a0"I come here every year with my family to celebrate Navratri. It is a great time to take a break from our busy lives and spend some time together."

Vardhaman Ekta Navratri
Location: Ekta grounds, near Kora Kendra, Borivli West
Entry fee: Free



Being a free event, a crowd about 5,000 strong had filled the venue. Be it young or old, people from as far as Virar and Mahim had come to celebrate. Security here was top-notch. Entry points were installed with metal detectors and the crowd was thoroughly frisked. Citing security reasons and to make sure that the in-house food and water counters did brisk business, people were disallowed form carrying water bottles and eatables. Moreover, with three dandiya events being organised in the same area, bikers parked their bikes on the footpaths, resulting inu00a0 skirmishes, which were resolved after cops' intervention. A police officer on duty near Kora Kendra said, "We are trying our best to maintain law and order. There are three dandiya events here and at times it becomes hectic. There have been a few people who we caught for rash driving. But so far, there have been no major problems." Being a free event, even the mischief-mongers made their way in and were spotted passing lewd comments at the girls. Apart from this, the event was peaceful. Though the revellers were not seen playing dandiya, the youngsters performed a mixture of garba and other dances.

Commuting woes
After th event, the autorickshaw drivers tried to cash in on the revellers' plight. Refusing to ply by meter to Borivli station, these drivers started demanding Rs 50, which according to meter doesn't exceed Rs 15. With all the three events ending at the same time, the drivers tried to take advantage.

Organiser speaks
"Since ours is a free garba-raas, we took care to make the event incident-free. We want people to come and enjoy themselves. It's all about enjoying the nine nights of the festival," said Jignesh Shah, one of the event organisers.

Voices:
Naveen Mittal, 53, a resident of Khar who had come for the event said, "My family and I wanted to experience dandiya and so decided to come here. My relatives travel to this venue from across the city. We have our own car so it is okay for us. I will be making a few trips to drop my relatives to the station as the rickshaw drivers are charging exorbitantly."