Enjoy Garba, folk music and find your love

Ahmedabad: If you know the Garba moves, you can be the lucky one to celebrate Valentine's Day for nine days!

''The festival gives me and my girlfriend a chance to be together for nine days. We meet daily and enjoy the dance till late. Each day is like Valentine's Day for us,'' said a post-graduate student, Jignesh Shukla.

Jignesh was not the only one to be bitten by the love bug. Thousands of young people shaking their legs on the Garba beats, clad in shining pearls and stone studded colourful ethnic wear, also felt that it rains love during the celebrations.

''In our routine lives, we sometimes do not even get to see our friends and loved ones because of our hectic schedules. Taking out time becomes a challenge. However, when Navratri comes, the whole Ahmedabad city comes out to enjoy even at night and we too get a good time to spend time with each other,'' said Aparna, working with a multi-national company.

It is the infinite glory of Navratri festival, the longest dance festival of the world, which started on September 19. The contagious music and Garbas win the proverbial hearts and minds of people. People from various states and nations visit the festival in Gujarat, celebrated as Vibrant Navratri Festival since last seven years.

The story, however, does not end here. The festival has even acted as a match-maker for some. ''Both of my sons found their life-partners during the Garba itself. Coincidently, both had met them on the second day of the festival. So, it gave them a full week's time to meet and know each other properly. Today, both of them are married happily,'' said Preeti Modi, an elderly woman and mother of two sons and a daughter.

Some people even believe that besides meeting ''by chance'', youngsters, who are not able to find their soulmates otherwise, attend the festival intentionally.

''Almost all the youngsters in the city come and meet at a single place. So, it proves to be a good platform. Who knows, your partner must have been waiting for you and finds you!'', said a bank manager Tarun.