Mumbai —
Outside the aircraft hangar-sized venue, the crowd of Gen Z office workers and teenagers is thickening. Event staff scan QR codes and fasten wristbands. Friends take selfies together as they wait in a queue. As night falls, the doors open and the nearly 5,000 attendees walk in.
Inside the venue in India’s commercial hub Mumbai they remove their shoes and sit cross-legged on the floor. The lights dim. In the front row, a young mother rocks her baby on her shoulders, waiting for the music to begin.
When it comes, it’s not thumping electro or pop lyrics that boom through the speakers, but centuries-old Hindu devotional songs more commonly heard in a temple or religious procession.
As the music builds, entire sections of the crowd rise to their feet, clapping, chanting and dancing together. The atmosphere is ecstatic. But there’s not a whiff of marijuana, nor is anyone boozing. In fact, the organizers have expressly banned alcohol and drugs from the event – and the attendees wouldn’t have it any other way.
