Hues of Holi

If you were one of those who had come down to Darling Harbour to celebrate Holi, the Festival of Colours, it is likely you may have been among those who literally painted the stunning harbour in hues of red, green, yellow and purple.

The Holi Mahotsav 2010, held from March 12 to 14 and organised by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia, saw hundreds throng to the venue to catch a glimpse of cultural performances put up on the adhoc stage or sink their teeth in to Indian delicacies; or simply throw colours at each other – the Holi way, albeit minus the pichkaris and bhang

The festival began on March 12 with the arrival of the decorated rath, the chariot of Lord Jagannatha dutifully hand-drawn by ISKCON devotees from Hyde Park through the main streets of Sydney CBD. Celebrated fervently in the Indian city of Puri in Orissa, millions flock to see and pull the grand chariots in the annual Rath Yatra. Sydneysiders chorused to the chants of Hare Rama, Hare Krishna until it reached its venue at Palm Grove and Cockle Bay Wharf. Last year, it was held at the Tumbalong Park. While the first two days saw Bollywood attracted scores of people, Indians and other Sydneysiders, to take part in one of India’s oldest Spring festivals. Amused visitors to the harbour were taken in by the colourthrowing custom and paused to take pictures of the festival; some even participated for the first time.

Anais Mutot, a French student in Sydney, said she loved taking part in the colour festival. “This is my first time at Holi and I simply loved all the colour throwing and the concept behind it. However, since the area was a bit small, my friends and I felt a little restrained,” she told Indian Link

Though Holi has its roots in religion, it is celebrated by Indians from different faiths, akin to the numerous festivals celebrated in India. However, over the last few years environmentalists and researchers in India have expressed worry over chemicals used in the making of coloured dyes, unlike the olden days when natural coloured powders were used.

Organisers distributed the colours in the barricaded area, manned by security personnel. The colour throwing ceremonies were split in to different sessions of 15-minutes long and had special times set

The restrictive space, while being congested, also caused a bit of confusion as many rushed to grab colours from the organisers. A larger crowd turned up in the afternoon and evening on March 14, and despite the absence of music or coloured water, most people had fun and reminisced about their times back home with their families.

“This year’s Holi Mahotsav was much better than last year since we had a change in venue. We celebrated the festival in the main area of the Darling Harbour unlike last year, and the stage where the cultural performances were organised was very good. More than 100,000 people visited the venue on each day, but March 13 saw the most crowd,” said Gambhir Watts, President of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia that organises Holi every year.

He said the colour throwing area was restricted because it was smaller area compared to last year and also because the stage on Aquashell was bigger. “Next year, we will expand further and see what needs to be done. All the stalls will be near the Convention Centre and the food court will be at Palm Grove. We plan to have food stalls from every major state,” said Watts, hoping that next year, the event would get even bigger.

It is however, laudable that despite being miles away from the subcontinent, organisers and volunteers tried their best to ensure that the Indian diaspora had the time of their lives and did not miss home.

More photos on pages 28-29