People splurge on clothes, jewellery on Navratri eve in diamond city

Surat, Sep 22 (UNI) The diamond city sports a festive look with shops and malls displaying the best of what they have - clothes, jewellery, et al on the eve of Navratri.

Citizens are on a hectic shopping spree for the festival of nine nights (Navratri) which is evident from the mind-boggling crowd at two important shopping areas here - God Rad Road and Chauta Bazar.

Aaabhiben, a shop owner at God Road told UNI, ''There is great demand for 'chania-choli'- the traditional Gujarati dress worn by women for garba dances.'' Another shop owner, Kethanbhai said the people cared little about the prices of dress materials. ''We have traditional dress materials that are priced between Rs 1,000 and Rs 3,000. People are willing to buy even at this cost. And we expect good sales in the coming days,'' he said.

'Kutchi patch' items are also a rage among shoppers. Designers make use of Kutchi art work like 'toran' and 'chakda' to make the garba outfits attractive. Toran from Kutch is very expensive and dresses made using it also become expensive, said a designer in the city. Some exquisite pieces cost upto Rs 10,000, a shop owner said.

In Chauta Bazar, there is a great demand for traditional jewellery. And the shops here are frequented by young girls.

Just as stores are displaying the best outfits and jewellery, the organisers are leaving no stone unturned in decorating the dance venues.

The main garba venues in the cty are Indoor Stadium, Royal Park, City Light Road, God Rod Road, Gateway Hotel, Adajan, Varachha, Poona and Katargam.

Interestingly political parties have their own garba points. BJP is organising its own garba in a school near Majura Gate.

Even though many garba points have fixed gate-passes to enter the venues, there are others who are organising free garba.

R K Group and Utsav Decorators, who have been in this business for years, are organising garba in Vrindavan Park in God Dod Road, which will be free for everybody.

Kamalesh Shah of R K Group says they will keep a donation box near the venue and the entire collection will be contributed to the flood relief work.

In spite of all its enthusiasm, Surat is facing a sponsorship crisis this time, due to floods, many complain.

''This is the first time in the last eight years, that he faced a sponsorship crisis. To overcome this crisis several groups have come together to organise garba in the city,'' Mr Shah added.

UNI MS KU SHB BD1439