In three rehearsal rooms — one inside Goregaon’s Pahadi MPS School Complex, one at Vikhroli’s Hariyali Village School, and another at Ganesh Baug Kurla — 30 students are preparing for an unlikely stage a month from now: the Darbar Hall of Maharashtra Raj Bhavan on October 31. Some teachers are fashioning the traditional costumes of Kashmir and Ladakh, others liaising with Raj Bhavan over protocols. Music teacher Abhijeet Kambli, who is directing the Dumhal and Ladakhi dances, is racing against time to set the choreography right within low-cost constraints and a high-pressure environment. “They’ve never seen Kashmir, but they’re learning to carry its spirit,” he says, as he gathers outsourced live music and technical help to make the performance sound as rich as possible. In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, no Bollywood elements are being included — instead, Mumbai’s municipal school students will present authentic folk songs written by their teachers, accompanied live on traditional Kashmiri instruments.

All of this comes under the wing of the Sangeet Kala Academy, now in its 51st year, working within the city’s municipal schools. This year, the academy will present the cultural programme for the Union Territory Formation Day of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, part of the nationwide ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ initiative in which Raj Bhavans celebrate the traditions of different states and UTs. Governor CP Radhakrishnan (now Vice-President of India) first heard the academy at Shivaji Park, and the talent that impressed him has long won over Mumbai audiences.