Live singer in Dwarka

Dwarka is where Dharmik Chudasama was born. It is one of India’s main pilgrimage towns — the Dwarkadhish temple on the Gomti creek draws devotees through the year, and Janmashtami fills the town with music and procession. Everything about the place is devotional.

Events here are mostly religious and community-centred: kirtans, bhajan evenings, temple programmes and festival nights. The music needs to be traditional and sincere; the classical training behind Dharmik’s voice is an advantage, and the bhajan and aarti repertoire fits naturally.

Travel to Dwarka is long from Mumbai, so programmes here are planned around festival dates and combined with other Saurashtra bookings where possible.

Dwarka is the town of Dwarkadhish, one of the four dhams, and its calendar is the calendar of Krishna. Janmashtami is the greatest festival, with the temple lit and the town full of pilgrims; Holi, Diwali and Navratri follow; and the daily aarti and the dusk bhajans on the Gomti ghat give the town a sound of its own. Dharmik Chudasama was born here and sang first on a school stage in the town.

Events are held in the dharamshalas and guesthouses around the temple, community halls, hotels near the beach and the lawns of the new town. The pilgrim crowds are very large at festivals, and the temple authorities set rules for processions and sound.

The Dwarka office stands near the T.V. station area on Patel Samaj Road. The nearest airport is Jamnagar, about two hours away, and the railway connects to Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

Dwarka is a place of pilgrimage, and its etiquette is that of a temple town. Visitors dress modestly, remove their shoes at the temple and eat vegetarian food. The town is dry and meat-free, and events are planned around the temple’s schedule, with the aarti times as the fixed points of the day. Evenings are early and quiet, except at festivals.

A singer who greets the elders, begins with a prayer and chooses devotional songs for the first set is respected. The local dialect is a compliment to the audience.

The nearest airport to Dwarka is Jamnagar, about two hours by road, and the railway connects the town to Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Okha, a short way north, is the port for Bet Dwarka, and Nageshwar and Rukmini temples are in easy reach. Hotels and guesthouses near the temple fill during festivals, so rooms for the band are booked early.

The Dwarka office is close to the town centre, and the family can meet the singer there before the event.