The festive season in India begins from end of September and carries on till the beginning of the New Year. Dusherra is the first festival and is celebrated all over the country  but it’s the people of West Bengal and Gujarat who celebrate this with a lot of pomp and show. For Bengalis it’s the Durga puja time with four days of celebration but for Gujaratis is nine nights’ fun folic and celebration … the Navaratris.

This festival of fasting and feasting is very colourful .  After fasting for the wholeday, the evening starts with ritual worship of the diety followed by the traditional Dandiya Raas. Both men and women love to dress in their best traditional attire anddance in circular formation with colourful sticks in their hands for dandiya evenings.The women wear traditional dresses such as colourful embroidered Ghagra choli and bandhani dupattas glittering with mirror work and heavy jewellery, while menlook very attractive in their traditional colourful kedias.

The venue is a riot of colours. The ghagras are of the latest designs with lots of embroidery and mirror work. The cholis have the current neckstyles. Women mostly love to wear backless cholis during the dandiya nights. The colorful sticks, used asprop of Dandiya Raas, are usually made of bamboo. This is the reason why it is alsoknown as ‘stick dance’. The circular movements of Dandiya Raas to some extent  complex, which can be done only with skill in the art form.

Every woman wants to look her best and still have her own individualistic style. This is why the demand for designer lehenga cholis has gotten higher. Not only are women experimenting with designs, but also exploring new colours options. Apart from regular maroon, red and pink, many are opting for orange, green, aqua or even metallic shades. The ultimate goal is to look totally different, yet gorgeous on the festive evenings.