Navratri 2022: Festival organisers in Mumbai expect surge in footfall this year

After Ganeshotsav Mumbai is all decked up to celebrate Navratri with full enthusiasm The nineday festival will commence on September 26 and end on October 5After two years of muted celebrations this year organisers are planning to celebrate Navratri on a larger scaleFounded in 1928 Lalbaug Sarvajanik Utsav Mandal will complete 95 years Explaining how the mandal plans to celebrate Navratri Adhwait Pedhamkar joint secretary of the mandal said ldquoWe are excited about this yearrsquos Navratri celebrations As there are no restrictions we are expecting more footfall this yearrdquoThe Devi is addressed as lsquoAshtabhuja Narayani Lalbaugchi Matarsquo It is 65 feet tall he addedSpeaking about the last two years Pedhamkar said ldquoWe did celebrate Navratri but they were on a smaller scale We followed government guidelines during the last two years Hence we did not organise any programmes because if we would have organised them people would have thronged the pandal in large numbers which we wanted to avoidrdquoSharing how the mandal celebrates Navratri Pedhamkar added ldquoThis year we are celebrating the 95th year of Navratri utsav With no restrictions we have programmes such as bhajan entertainment programmes and workshops for kids like crafting drawing etc which we used to keep before the pandemicrdquoAlso Read Navratri colours 2022 Here is the list of nine colours and its significanceldquoWe also keep fancy dress dandiya but that is only on Ashtami the eighth day of Navratri On panchami the fifth day of Navratri we keep gondhal We will organise Bhandara Maha prasad on Kojagiri Purnima which is on October 9 every year Around 2500 devotees will come to take this Prasad We will serve a meal to themrdquo he addedAccording to the mandal they see a lot of devotees giving sarees to their beloved goddess Lalbaugchi MataldquoEvery day devotees present around 150200 sarees to the beloved goddess Lalbaugchi Mata as she has fulfilled their Navaspurtirdquo Pedhamkar saidPedhamkar further said ldquoAfter Navratri we do not organise any auction for these sarees But instead we sell those at a 1537 discount to devotees who want to buy them The remaining sarees are donated to the Adivasi community in villagesrdquoThe mandal doesnrsquot take any separate donations for Navratri ldquoWhatever donation we get during Ganeshotsav we use those funds for Navratrirdquo he addedAnother mandal in Mumbai GSB Sabha DahisarBorivali was established 30 years ago Since 2008 the Samaj has been celebrating the Navratri festival at their Saraswat Cultural amp Recreation Centre at N L Complex Dahisar EJayesh Prabhu a committee member of GSB Sabha DahisarBorivali said that they are expecting more footfall this year as restrictions have been lifted by the state government For the last two years many devotees have told us to start physical darshan so that they can pray to their beloved Devi he addedSpeaking about the last two years Prabhu said We did celebrate Navratri but on a smaller scale During the pandemic it was a closed pandal and fewer people were there The aarti and darshan were broadcasted live on YouTube so that everybody can see their beloved DeviAccording to GSB Sabha DahisarBorivali the ground on which the Navratri celebrations are held is spread across 175 acres The ground hosts the Navratri pandal which is around 40000 sq ft in dimensions with a max height of around 28 feet The pandal is divided into three sections While the central section holds the Devi Mandap the left section is used for cultural events hosting singing dance performances of several artists and schools and the right section for AnnaDaana Seva serving meals to thousands of devotees daily throughout the nine daysAlso Read When is Shardiya Navratri 2022 Date significance history and all you need to knowSpeaking about what makes the Navratri celebrations unique Prabhu shared The same Devi idol is seen in nine different swaroops throughout Navratri with the final swaroop on DussehraThe Sabha presents the idol which is close to sevenfeet tall and is made from sadhu clay in different swaroops A team of volunteers work throughout the night preparing the Devi for the next day They adorn the Goddess in different sarees and ornaments that complement the props on the stage thereby giving a completely different look and feel to the devotees the next day as per the SabhaThe Sabha also said that the swaroop on Navami day the ninth day is an eyecatching one On this day the Devi is shown as Maa Kaali The idol is painted in black on Navami day Its an effort of over eight hours on Ashtami night the previous night to paint the idol black and equally big an effort on Navami night to repaint the idol to its original form the Sabha saidItrsquos on Navami that the Sabha also celebrates Deep Utsav where over 10000 oil lamps are lit by every devotee within the pandal The lighting of lamps starts around 530 pm and concludes with the Sabha switching off all of the electric lights around 7 pm when they open the curtains and perform the evening Aarti the Sabha said