City to get village festival
Juhu locals attempt to revive tradition and culture……Sandeep Ashar
Juhu locals attempt to revive tradition and culture……Sandeep Ashar
It’s one of the city’s most upmarket locales, home to the elite. Few remember that Juhu was once a village rich in tradition and culture. Now, a group of eight people is keen to revive the past.
The group, which works for the social outfit Garaj, plans to unite more than 800 families residing in two villages in Juhu — the Juhu Gaothan and Moragaon — to organise Mumbai’s first village festival.
Beginning May 1, the festival, said Gleason Barretto, project coordinator and convener for Garaj, is aimed to create awareness about the forgotten gaothan tradition in the midst of modernisation. “Villages are fast disappearing in the urbanisation race. If you ask people about Juhu, they will identify it as an elite area where film stars live and where the Juhu Beach is located. The welfare of the region’s original inhabitants, the fisherfolk and the East Indian community, has been ignored by the city fathers.”
Among the 10 activities planed for the festival is a special carnival procession to be staged on May 4, where villagers will take to the streets wearing traditional attire. “Boats will be on display and so will the popular brass band. Children will wear fancy dresses, while men and women will sport traditional clothing,” said Garaj member and musician Adolf Creado.
Barretto added: “We also plan to furnish a memorandum of our charter of demands to the local corporator.”
To make the festival lively, they have also tied up with 16 businesses based in and around Juhu, which will offer discounts to visitors. Apart from roping in sponsors, the funding for the event is also being raised through individual contributions from villagers. The proceeds from the festival will be used by Garaj to provide meals every day to 15 street children in Juhu.