Delhiwale: Their bhajan circle

This bhajan mandli is their circle of sacred music. Every year, during the nine holy days of Navratri, the ladies jointly offer devotional bhajans at the community temple. “We pray, we observe fast, we sing for each of the nine roop of Maa Shakti,” says one of the ladies.
The 20-member music group all live in the same apartment complex in Ghaziabad’s Vasundhara, and the temple is located beside the complex’s gate. All the members are busy homemakers, says a lady, and “we’re all close friends.”
One remarkable aspect about the bhajan mandli’s bhajans, explains another lady, is that “they have come down to us from our mothers, who received them from their mothers, who received them from theirs.” The language of the melodious lyrics is colloquial, and a bhajan might have a catchy word repeating itself like an echo. Check these lines:
Lal chunariya oar ke mayya aai mandir mein,
Ghante bole tan tan tan
Or these:
Bhawan rangeela,
Maa ka sher peela peela
This evening, on the fifth day of Navratri, the ladies settle down at the temple around five o’clock with dholak, jhanjhar, and majeera. A few sit cross-legged on the floor, others sit on low moora. The tunes of the first bhajan recall a well-known song from the film Nadira ke Paar. A lady points out that the last line of the opening stanza is from that song.
Peeli peeli sarson maa ki
Peeli hai chunariya
Maa ke roop ka nazara
Maa ke gote ka nazara
Zaraa dekhan de
The lady explains that “we find it more smooth-going to sing in a familiar tune, and in a language relatable to us all.”
True enough, the communal poetry offered here to the divine appears to have been culled out with love and reverence from our everyday life. Many ladies know the lyrics by heart. It is acknowledged among the group that the most accomplished singers are Priya, Pushpa, sisters Ranjana and Upasana, and Rekha. But then, all the members in the group are skilled—the 12 singers present today are listed below.
The bhajan evening lasts for two hours, after which the ladies walk back to their apartments, marking the Navratri fast with “vrat ka khana” such as kuttu ki poori, and lauki, or aloo, ki subzi.
Seen in the photo, from left—Pushpa, Mithilesh, Rukmani, Anita , (second) Pushpa , Preeti, Ranjana, Madhu, Rekha , Upasna, Seeta , Priya