Vadodara

Vadodara, also known as Baroda, is the third-most populated town in Gujarat after Ahmedabad and Surat (the three towns with a population of over 1 million in Gujarat). It is located on the Vishwamitri river, southeast of Ahmedabad and is known as the Cultural Capital of Gujarat.

Culture

The people of Baroda, called Barodians, call their city a ?Sanskari Nagari?, that is, a ?Cultured City?. Baroda is one of India?s most cosmopolitan cities. Thanks to the vision and broadmindedness of the Gaekwads, the subsequent industrialisation, the proliferation of academic activities and a strategically important geographical location, Baroda has welcomed a wide variety of people from all over India and also from all over the world. In all of this, the sprawling and cosmopolitan MS University campus and the large number of local, national and foreign industries act as a catalysing and unifying force.

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The great museums on the palace grounds such as the Maharaja Fateh Singh Museum and art gallery are unique and carry artifacts from around the nation and the world. There are Gujarati film studios in the city as well as a large number of large old-style movie theatres in addition to the newer multiplexes that have sprung up in the past few years.

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Diwali, Uttarayan, Holi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Id, Christmas and New Year are celebrated with great fervour. On any given day, some cultural activity or the other is going on in the city. Classical music and dance have their patrons, and so does the modern stage and pop culture. The culture and the traditions are both alive and being forever experimented with.

Related Topics:
Diwali - Uttarayan - Holi - Ganesh Chaturthi - Christmas

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Navratri

If you want to see Baroda?s cultural enthusiasm, you should visit this city during any festive occasion of Navratri. For nine nights in the winter, every corner of Vadodara is filled with song, dance and lights. Young and old people of the city spend their evenings at their local Garba grounds where local musicians play traditional music while people dance the rasa and garba dances. The more popular garba locations have a few thousand dancers at a time. The evenings usually start with slow paced music which gets faster as the night progresses. This is also a time when the youth of an otherwise conservative population is given freedom to be out until later than normal. This transforms the city into a vibrant and lively place with businesses and restaurants open past midnight.

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