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Holi overcomes blast shadow in Varanasi

Celebrating the festival of colours essential for defeating the designs of terrorists, says U.S. tourist

PHOTO: A.M.FARUQUI

HOLI HAI!: A procession of Holi revellers passing through the localities of Bhopal on Wednesday.

Varanasi: Leaving behind the tragic events of March 7 and the early morning chill, the abode of Shiva -- Kashi (Varanasi) -- plunged into the pool of seamless colours on the festival of Holi on Wednesday.

The entire holy city wore a colourful look with residents and foreign tourists alike imbued with the festive spirit.

People from all communities embraced each other and flung `gulal' in the air at the Dashashwamedh Ghat where a bomb left by terrorists was defused a week ago.

In other parts of the city, it was a `no-holds-barred' Holi for men, women and children who made a conscious effort to leave behind memories of the blasts at the Sankatmochan temple and the Cantonment railway station that killed 20 people.

Muslims came out from colonies of Madanpura, Pan Dariba, Chowk and Nai Sadak to join the Hindus in the spring festival while children armed with squirts splashed unsuspecting passersby with colours.

The festive fervour was further elevated by Bhojpuri songs being played by the blaring loudspeakers and the intoxication of `bhang', for those who preferred it.

``Celebrating the festival of colours on full swing was essential for defeating the designs of the terrorists. They would have won battle against the holy city had the Banarsis skipped the festive colour due to the blast,'' said Reich, a U.S. tourist, who especially came to Varanasi from New Delhi to relish Holi on the Ganga Ghats.

``Holi is the festival of every Banarasi and not that of Hindus alone,'' said Jameel, who has been a part of riverfront Holi for the last 25 years.

Localities like Dashashwamedh Ghat, Godaulia, Lahurabeer, Lanka were filled with Holi revellers dancing and singing to the beating of drums. `Phagua' (folk songs on Holi) were sang at several places in the town.

However, festivities were marred by a deadly attack on Baitholi village in Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's native district of Etawah where the dreaded Jagjivan dacoit gang struck late on Tuesday night during `Holika Dahan' (Holi bonfire) and killed four people besides wounding another.

Mr.Yadav, who was in his native village Saifai later said that the gang would be liquidated soon like many other dacoit gangs. A girl and her mother were seriously injured after some hooligans poured acid on their faces shouting `Holi hai' last night in the Madiaon area in Lucknow, they said.

The injured were rushed to the hospital, sources said adding a case had been registered and efforts were on to nab the culprits

Meanwhile reports of colourful Holi celebrations were also received from other parts of Uttar Pradesh including Lucknow, Pratapgarh, Hardoi, Mahoba, Kanpur and

Muzaffarnagar. The internationally-famous ``Lathamar Holi'' fascinated one and all in Krishna's birth place Mathura, with devotees using only natural colours across the religious city. According to reports from New Delhi, at least eight people were killed and around 100 injured in Holi-related incidents in U.P., Rajasthan and Delhi

Reports from Mumbai say the festival, symbolising victory of the good over the evil, was celebrated by people of ages and cutting across all sections of the society in the financial capital.

Bollywood and television personalities too joined the festivities by organising small get-togethers. But, the Holi bashes associated with late Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and Subhash Ghai were missing.

According to reports from Patna, people cutting across age and gender celebrated Holi by smearing faces of one another with colours of all hues.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar set the tone by appealing to celebrate Holi with love and brotherhood.

Holi popularly known as ``Phagua'' among the rural folk are also being celebrated in rural and far- flung areas in true Bihari style with people not even hesitating to throw cow dung and muddy water on each other, apart from pouring coloured water.

As per reports from Chandigarh, the festival was celebrated with gaiety and enthusiasm in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Despite a heavy morning downpour enthusiastic youngsters came out to sprinkle colour waters and threw colour powder on each other in the region. As the clouds lifted and gave way to sunshine later in the day the elderly also came out to celebrate Holi.

Reports from Bhopal say people across Madhya Pradesh celebrated the festival of colours with traditional pomp and gaiety. .PTI/UNI

Staff Correspondent adds:

DEHRA DUN: A warm and sunny day after the rains that brought in chill over the past few days resulted in people celebrating Holi with added enthusiasm all over Uttaranchal on Wednesday. People of all age groups went around their localities here applying "gulal" while celebrations were rather subdued for the students appearing in their examinations.

The celebrations began on Tuesday evening with cultural programmes full of folk and pop music and dances being held in various clubs and vocational training institutes.

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Holi overcomes blast shadow in Varanasi

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