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NEW DELHI: Holi, the festival of colours, was celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety on March 29 almost all over India. This is traditionally a Hindu festival (The Story of Holika) but people from other religious denominations also take active part in it. People applied "gulal" (colour powder) and sprinkled coloured water on each other on the occasion, which heralds the beginning of spring. In Bikaner district, for the past more than 300 years, members of two communities, "Harsh" and "Yyas", have been celebrating Holi by throwing water at one another with force. A specially designed vessel called "dolchi" made from camel skin is used for the purpose. But the water is thrown only at the back of an individual. People in Kullu in Himachal Pradesh marked the occasion by mixing snow with colours. The main celebrations were held at the world famous Solang Pass, which witnesses heaviest snowfall in the country. "Bhang", a traditional Indian intoxicant drink as a beverage, kept the people in Banaras on a high during the Holi festivities. India's oldest and holiest city in Uttar Pradesh was laced with colour and merriment. Sitting on the "ghats" or steps leading to the Ganga river, the people drenched in colours were seen grinding "bhang" (cannabis) and mixing it with milk and various dry fruits to enhance the taste. "Holi in Banaras is incomplete without bhang. We all friends sit together and drink it to celebrate the festival of colours," said Toli, a resident, as he kept on grinding the bhang leaves. Dharamdev, a priest, said: "Since this is the place of Lord Shiva, bhang forms an integral part of this place but on Holi it has a special significance. People enjoy drinking it with milk. We all sit together and enjoy this drink." While elders celebrated Holi by exchanging greeting and distributing sweets, young boys danced to the tunes of popular Hindi songs in the streets. Even foreign tourists were seen enjoying the festival. "I am enjoying a lot. It is good. Some people are good and I am enjoying a lot," said Kim, a foreign tourist. The arrival of Chinese pichkaries (water spray guns) was another novelty this time. Several varieties of them were available in the market. Unlike other Chinese goods invading Indian markets, this one was priced quite high and it was said to be worth its price. These one-day guns were also known by fancy names like AK-47. Leaking duplicates were also selling side by side. Holi being a dry day, boozers queued up at liquor shops in the Capital on Thursday, especially as the previous days too were dry days. In India where most shops are invariably on the sidelines of public roads, and mostly encroaching on them, traffic snarls near liquor shops and scuffles at counters were a common sight. Supplies could not meet the demands this time. In order to check law and order problems on the streets during morning revelries on Holi, the Delhi police personnel in thousands were on their toes. Twenty-five companies of additional forces were deployed to tackle hooligans on a free-for-all day. India's President KR Narayanan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and several other leaders did not take part in the celebrations this year in view of the Gujarat violence. -ANI
& India Overseas
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