Gaiety, communal harmony mark Holi celebrations
by Maya Singh/Sarada Lahangir/ Sushil Pareek

     New Delhi/Rengala (Orissa)/ Mumbai: Caste and religious preferences took a backseat on Wednesday, as Indians took to the streets across the country to celebrate the festival of colours - Holi - with gay abandon and in a spirited fashion. Communal harmony and bear hugs were the order of the day as it rained water balloons, buckets of water and coloured powder on all and sundry. Sanghamitra, a young eight-year-old, chose to get up late, but pretty soon, she had her whole family, including her granny and uncle all excited about going down the alley where her residence was located to mix up with the neighbourhood's elders and kids, splashing a riot of colour and water. "I don't like cold water being sprayed on me, but this is Holi. I can't avoid it. I want to play it. I want to play with Aishya and Dhardi didi," Sanghamitra said. Soumya Mahapatra, a resident of Rengala in Orissa, was no less enthusiastic about celebrating the festival of colours in all its multi-coloured hues. "Holi is time for celebration, a change of seasons, from winter to spring," Soumya said. North India, reeling from unexpected rains on Tuesday, experienced a festival of colours on Wednesday morning, marking the end of winter and the arrival of spring. From the Holi heartland of Vrindavan and Varanasi to the tinsel town Mumbai to Anandpur Sahib in Punjab and up to the frontiers, it was a scene of jubilation as people from all walks of life sang "Holi hai bhai Holi hai, bura na mano Holi hai."

     At Vrindavan, a huge procession of people -- all drenched in colours - converted the whole city into a sea of colour as Brijwasis sang and danced through the streets and thoroughfares and at temples and ghats, celebrating a festival that is said to have born in these very lands many centuries back. In the nation's frontiers, the sentinels of the border are celebrating in high spirit far away from their families. There is nothing that can dampen the Holi spirit among the soldiers. While the very tradition of Holi usually revolves around Lord Krishna, in Karnataka, it's Lord Shiva who burns away the evil. Government offices and courts in the state remained open, though there was no bar on joining in the Holi festivities. Holi holds a mythological importance - that of the triumph of good over evil. "We are together, we are like brothers, we are like friends and we celebrate every occasion, every festival together over here," said Rakesh Nanak, a Hindu resident of Rengala in Orissa. Fakkiruddin, a Muslim resident echoed Nanak's sentiments saying: "As they join our Muharram and Eid festivals we celebrate their festival Holi. We celebrate all the festivals together like brothers, there is no difference between us."

    In Mumbai, underprivileged children celebrated the day with environmental friendly herbal colours. Green team of Rodas Hotel, the designer Ecotel together with Syntel's sponsored S'Prayas and Mobile Creche of India organised a celebration party for these street children on the eve of Holi to promote the use of environmental friendly colours. "This event, which we held here was because of the festival of Holi. We use anything on Holi, the street kids use anything like grease, paint. Our idea was to use environmentally sensitive colours, to use herbal colours. Because they would not get it anywhere so we got them the colours," Arindam Bahel, a chef at the Rodas Hotel said. The children who gleefully ran around playing with colours said that they had a great time. "We had a lot of fun. We played Holi with all the kids and enjoyed a lot, said Rajkanya, an underprivileged girl. Holi is celebrated across India at the onset of spring. People put colours on one another and distribute sweets on the occasion.

Bomb-struck Varanasi bounces back on Holi
by Girish Kumar Dubey

     Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh): The temple city of Varanasi is known for its rich musical tradition, especially during festive occasions like Holi and Diwali. Such occasions bring out the best in people, who usually gather in groups and hit the streets, singing and playing the dholak or the tabla. This year though, Holi in Varanasi is being celebrated in a muted tone, as the temple town is yet to recover from the twin blasts of March 7 that claimed 20 lives and maimed more than 50 at the Sankat Mochan Temple and at the Varanasi Cantonement Railway Station. On Wednesday, it was not exactly a riot of colours in Varanasi. Some people chose to sing and dance their way to the ghats that dot the banks of the River Ganges to offer prayers before beginnig their Holi celebrations. The spirits were not dampened. Youths arrived at the ghats and drenched themselves in various colours. The temples, however, chose to celebrate the event in a muted way. The Sankat Mochan Temple, one of the central points of Holi celebrations over the years, is yet to recover from the scars of terror. The town's social, cultural and trade organisations opted to keep celebrations at a low key.

    Over two dozen organisations cancelled their proposed Holi Milan (Holi Get Together) functions to express their sorrow and sympathy for the bereaved family members of blast victims. Newspaper reports quoted Santosh Ojha, the founder president of the Bhelupur Vyapar Mandal and patron of the Kamachcha Vyapar Mandal, as saying that there would be no Holi celebrations in view of the recent bomb blasts. Sankalp, a social organisation, opted to celebrate Holi in a simple manner with the aim of promoting communal harmony and brotherhood. It distributed sprinklers, colours and other items among the orphans of the Kashi Seva Samiti. The Kashi Sarrafa Mandal also decided not to celebrate Holi as mark of respect to the blast victims. The Sindhu Samaj Samiti also cancelled its Holi function, while several employees' associations, including Jalkal Karmchari Sangh, Jal Sansthan Karamchari Sangh, Yuva Shramik Parishad, Nalkoop Karamchari and Ministerial Staff Association followed suit. A meeting of traders was also held today to pay homage to the victims of the blasts. Overall, the spirit was that of resilience and a determination to bounce back from a tragic episode through a sea of colours. The festivities may have commenced on a sombre note, but when reports last came in, the mood had picked up. Shops were selling bhang and gulal (coloured powder), the morning rains notwithstanding. Special security arrangements have been made in Varanasi, Lucknow, Faizabad, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and other places in the wake of the March 7 blasts.

Kanpur residents shy away from synthetic colours
by Mahendra Mishra

    Kanpur: Holi celebrations may be underway across the country, but in the textile and leather hub of Kanpur, the public is shying away from the use of synthetic colours. The unabated sale of synthetic Holi colours has evoked resentment among the people here. "Sales are quite satisfactory. But the present situation and the weather condition have affected the market," said a shopkeeper, who was selling colours. Expressing serious concern over the unabated selling of synthetic colours, people here have urged the authorities to ban the sale of such items. "For this, we are facing a lots of problems. synthetic Colours have spoiled our cloths, skins, etc. Due to the use of such colours diseases of various kinds are spreading rapidly. We are continuously demanding them not to sell such items, but in vain," a commoner regretted. Dr Sushil Chandra Srivastava, a skin specialist, has urged people not to use synthetic Holi colours. "We should not use synthetic Holi colours. This will affect our skin permanently," Dr Srivastava added.

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