Pawratri 2026: Mumbai’s Garba Gets A Pet-Friendly Twist With Silent Headphones, Microchipping And More
· Free Press Journal
For most pet parents, festival season comes with a quiet pang of guilt. The dhol plays, the chaniya cholis come out, and the dog stays home, watching the door. This Navratri, a section of Mumbai is refusing to leave anyone behind.
Pawratri 2026, a Navratri celebration designed around pets, will bring Garba, shopping and a welfare drive together this festive season. Organised by Mumbai-based JeevOne Welfare Foundation, it comes barely weeks after the same team turned a Kandivali Ganpati pandal into one of the city's most pet-welcoming spaces. Together, the two festivals point to something larger: Mumbai's celebrations are slowly making room for its animals.
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Garba, minus decibels
The event's most striking feature is also its quietest. In the Garba zone, a live DJ plays the season's tracks, but nothing booms through speakers. The music goes straight into silent headphones worn by the dancers.
"All our events follow a pet-first approach. We've designed the entire event around the comfort of the animals," says Sanket Bhatt, founder of JeevOne Welfare Foundation. "Loud noise is very disturbing to a pet, whether it's a cat, a dog or any other animal."
Once inside the zone, people slip on headphones and play Garba with their pets, pausing for pictures in between. "People enjoy the music, but it doesn't disturb the animals," he adds.
Bhatt says the idea has precedent on a much smaller scale, mostly in Gujarat. In Ahmedabad, a Pawratri evening last year also skipped loudspeakers, citing research that sound levels considered safe for humans can stress dogs. "The way we're producing and executing it is very different," he says of the Mumbai edition.
Beyond the dance floor, a large pandal will house stalls from pet food brands, accessory labels and other businesses working in the space.
Chip for every pet
The festive mood comes with a practical purpose. JeevOne plans to microchip every pet that attends, as part of what the foundation calls India's first pet microchipping project. The larger aim is a nationwide pet directory, with every animal and its guardian recorded in one central system. The foundation started small: its first camp, held recently, chipped around 25 dogs in Kharghar.
Bhatt explains how it works. If a lost pet is found, the finder takes it to the nearest vet, who will have a scanner provided by the foundation. "Once they scan the animal, they get a 15-digit unique ID," he says. Entered into JeevOne's app for vets and rescuers, the number pulls up the pet parent's details. "That gives the animal a chance of being reunited with its family."
The Garba, then, doubles as an awareness drive. "It creates awareness about responsible pet parenting, about taking care of your pets the right way and making sure their yearly vaccinations are given on time," says Bhatt.
Dressed for circle
For the city's pet community, the excitement is real. Mrunal Mirani, 30, from Kandivali West, has been a pet parent for 12 years and runs Kandivali Pet Parents, a group of more than 250 members. "Navratri with dogs hasn't happened in Mumbai before, so we're all excited to see how it looks," she says.
The wardrobe planning has already begun. Khyati Karan Shah, 28, who runs Pannkh Designer Pet Wear, has watched the festive pet-fashion trend take off. "For pet parents, Navratri is now a chance to dress their babies up and groove to Garba, with boys in dhoti-kediyu and girls in chaniya choli," she says. "Festivals are celebrated with pets now, because they're family."
Dhara Shah, founder of Mira Road-based MiMi's Kitchen, is shopping for her dog's look too. "I've already started planning what I'm going to buy for MiMi, her special Navratri outfit," she says.
Pandal with paws
Pawratri builds on what happened at Ganeshotsav last month. At Kandivalicha Adhipati, JeevOne partnered with the mandal on an animal welfare theme. Street dogs were fed twice a day until visarjan, a rabies vaccination drive was held, and around 1,500 street dogs were fitted with radium collars. Pet parents were invited for darshan, and a Maha Paw Aarti was planned around the animals' comfort.
One modak changed everything for Dhara Shah. After seeing Bhatt's post about the pet-friendly pandal, she messaged him about homemade, pet-safe modaks she had made for her dog, MiMi. He offered her a spot as the pandal's prasad partner.
"That is how MiMi's Kitchen was born," she says. "At that time, I didn't even have an Instagram account." Today, her home-based kitchen makes preservative-free festive treats and snacks for pets.
For her, the pandal felt personal. "As pet parents, we always feel guilty when we can't take our babies along for celebrations. It always feels incomplete," she says. "But this year's Ganpati festival was truly fulfilling for us."
Kandivali wasn't alone. In Cuffe Parade, Mumbaicha Krupalu welcomed dogs and cats for blessings, its Ganpati shaped as Kaalbhairav with a black dog as his vehicle.
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The festivals are the newest chapter in a city already making space for pets. In March, Pet Fed Mumbai filled NESCO, Goregaon, with more than 100 stalls, while Borivali's 27,000 sq ft ZOIC Pet Park lets dogs run off-leash. Cafes such as Ohh My Dog Pefe in Lokhandwala and Doolally Taproom even serve pet menus.
The idea is travelling. In Delhi, pet parent Shubhii Verma hopes her city gets its own version this year. "I'd love to take my dog to an event like this. He'd really enjoy it," she says. "I especially loved the headphones bit."
Garba has always been about community. In Mumbai, that circle is finally wide enough for a wagging tail.