Wet And Colourful Holi Celebration In Delhi

Delhi Diary By M.Santhiran M.Santhiran, Bernama's correspondent in New Delhi shares his take on the Indian capital city and its unique social nuances. NEW DELHI, March 9 (Bernama) -- The Holi festival in India last Friday is all about colours, water and sweets. And being my first Holi in India, I learnt how colourful, wet and sweet the Holi could get. The festivities started on the eve with Delhi-ites patronising shops, bazaars and local markets, creating a major carnival atmosphere in the city. The traffic was at a standstill despite the fact thousands of city dwellers had returned to their respective villages to celebrate Holi, the second major festival in India after Deepavali. I too joined in the Holi preparations starting with the Malaysian High Commission where I shared some sweets with our fellow Malaysians and local staff. It is not only in the spirit of Holi but also to share my happiness as my son back home had scored 10 As for his SPM. The next stop was Sadar Bazaar, the largest wholesale market in Delhi. There was literally a sea of humanity there and I have never experienced such huge number of people before. With my assistant cum driver, I waded through the crowd. It was worth the effort since two of the photographs I snapped were used by my news organisation and a senior photographer credited me for the good pictures. Dry colours, water gun and fireworks were the hot items at the bazaar, other than the usual religious paraphernalia. SWEET SHOPS My assistant being a local, brought me to a street popular among local Bengali and Sikh communities. The place is better known as Bengali market and there are about 30 to 40 tantalising sweet shops. This place too was crowded like anything and the traffic police had a tough time controlling the traffic and the people. Here, I discovered one of the popular delicacies during Holi was "gujiya", that comes in the curry puff shape but stuffed with dry fruits and cardamom. According to one of the buyers it is very popular in the northern states especially Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madaya Pradesh and only sold during Holi. Since my assistant was so keen to buy, it took more than an hour to get his order. I tried one of the "gujiya" and it was certainly worth the wait. During my conversation with the buyers of the myriad of sweets available here, I found that the people here were generally non-chalant in consuming sweets though India records high diabetes rates. The array of colourful and tantalising ladoos, halwa, rasagulla, gulab jamun, kheer and others neatly displayed on glass shelves makes passers-by drool. These sweets are neatly packed in colourful gift boxes and the way the workers pack them is an art by itself, something that caught my attention. ON THE DAY OF CELEBRATION I had initially planned to visit Banke Bihari Temple, in Birandavan, about 150km from New Delhi, the focal point for the Holi celebration for many millennia. However, I could not continue with the plan as my driver was on leave to celebrate Holi with his family. Festivities began about 9.00 am in the neighbourhood with people throwing dry powders and coloured water on one another. The spectacle of the old and young running around their compounds with colours all over their faces greeted onlookers. Youngsters in the streets played drums, and residents rushed to the streets and started dancing to the tune. Several water missiles landed in my compound with people wishing "Holi Mubarakh" or happy Holi. Later, I joined my landlord at the first floor where his relatives and friends were splashing water on each other. The police were on patrol to ensure no untoward incident occurred. For lunch, I decided to head to my regular south Indian restaurant located about 3km away. It took me nearly half an hour to get an auto (a three-wheeler taxi) during which I was hit several times by water guns from passing cars. I thought the colourful showers were over but when the auto stopped at the restaurant, a group of youths rushed towards me and splashed water laced with colours. However, I came prepared with an extra shirt and changed before quickly walking into the restaurant. It was certainly a memorable Holi celebration for me, never mind of the colours and the showers that I had to endure. (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA