FESTIVAL OF COLORS.

  

    Hello and Welcome back Readers!!! Topic indicates well what I’m going to write today. Holi, popularly known as Festival of Colors is all about the victory of Good over Evil. This festive occasion occurs at the arrival of spring, end of winter; when peoples smear colors on friends & foes, rich & poor, young & old; being joyous and breaking all boundaries enjoying all the way. Our mind freezes the moment and frames it till the next year. Though the occasion has a strong mythological background, it is aimed to remove all the blockages, all the evilness, impurities and purify us. I’ll have a word on it in the next blog. For a change, let’s take a tour of India and know how the festival is celebrated in various states with their rituals.

    In Manipur, the traditional & centuries-old Yaosang festival has been amalgamated with Holi & celebrated with fervor in the spring season.  In Punjab and Chandigarh, Massive amount of peoples from Sikh community throng the sacred town of Anandpur Sahib during Hola Mohalla, a 3-day festival that falls on Holi is all about cherishing brotherhood and enhancing & showcasing martial arts skills. The community proudly chants “ Jagg di holi te sadda hola.”

    In West Bengal, the breeding ground of art, culture and dance: Shantiniketan was named by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore; Rabindranath Tagore came in 1873 and introduced the much celebrated Basant Utsav or Dol Jatra. Come spring & there’s a riot of colors in the air with bright palaash blooms all around. Faint voices singing “Nil Digantey, Ore bhai phagun legechhe” fill your ears from far away while abir smeared faces greet each other.

    Benaras sees an all new energy during Holi with streets armed with people playing gulaal and water balloons. The celebrations begin a night before Holika Dahan (burning Holika, the devil). Holi here is a loud affair. There is this utmost carefree vibe all around the maze-like alleyways of this old city. The mad mania starts from the morning with hues of pink, yellow, blue, red, purple. Friends gather to sprinkle water & throw water balloons. As evening sets in, celebrations kind of mellow down, Ghats getting ready for Ganga Aarti. While in Benaras, be prepared to see and experience some mischief too. After all, they say “Bura na Mano Holi hai”.

   That’s it in this blog. The upcoming blogs will be versatile and more in-depth. Your response until now is amazing. I hope the same to continue and I’ll ensure to provide you a good content. In case we are meeting for the first time, Hii This is Tejas Joshi.