FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2019
18
cinema news x
/hiindialive
@hiindia
/hiindianoone
MIDWEST / EASTCOAST
Holi special
Dol Jatra celebrated with gaiety
While those from north India celebrated it in traditional style, rubbing and sprinkling colors on each other, the Bengalis exchanged sweets and pleasantries IANS, KOLKATA
W
est Bengal joined the rest of the nation in celebrating the festival of Holi - or Dol Jatra as it is called in this part of the country - with colors, song and prayers, amid stepped-up security on Thursday. Thousands of people from various parts of India and abroad congregated at Santiniketan — in Bolpur of Birbhum district, about 180 km from Kolkata — where Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore had reintroduced Dol Jatra as Basantotsav or spring festival in the Visva Bharati university he founded. The Santiniketan campus oozed mirth and gaiety as people jived on the streets to the tune of Tagore songs that exhorted everyone to mingle in joy. Early in the morning, the darkness of the night was dispelled with girls and boys of Visva-Bharati, accompanied by their teachers, going around the campus singing “Ore Grihabasi, khol dwar khol, laglo je dol (Oh dwellers! Open
Nitish celebrates Holi, no festivities for Lalu Prasad PATNA: Bihar on Thursday celebrated Holi with fervor. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar celebrated only with dry colors but there were no festivities at the residence of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi. Drenched in different colors, people in large numbers took to the streets since morning, splashing water and color on one another. Many sang traditional Holi songs. It was a low key affair at the Chief Minister’s residence. Nitish Kumar met Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leaders and workers besides urging the people of the state to celebrate Holi with a spirit of love and brotherhood. The Lalu Prasad family did not celebrate Holi in memory of the 40 CRPF troopers killed by a suicide bomber in Pulwama. Lalu Prasad is undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ranchi. Last year too, his family did not celebrate Holi in his absence. The RJD chief’s younger son Tejashwi Yadav said that his family and the party won’t celebrate Holi in view of the Pulwama attack of February 14. —IANS
Holi celebrations underway in Kolkata. (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)
your doors, it is Dol)”. The girls, resplendent in saffron sarees and garlands of fragrant flowers, and boys in traditional kurta-punjabi, then took part in a song and dance routine at the Ashram Math (main university ground). The function ended with
everyone smearing the other with abir. The curtains came down on the festivities in the evening, with the rendering of Tagore’s dance drama “Shyama” by the university students. The International Society for
Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) celebrated the day as the 533rd birth anniversary of Vaishnav saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at its global headquarters in Nadia district’s Mayapur, about 130 km from here. A joyful spectacle of global harmony was visible as devotees
belonging to 300 ethnicities from over 95 countries, converged to celebrate the occasion through devotional songs and cultural programs and discourses about the life and teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The excitement of the devotees was palpable as they gleefully breaking the shackles of color, creed, region, caste, and country rubbed shoulder to shoulder in bliss. The festival was a blend of north Indian and Bengali traditions in the eastern metropolis. While those from north India celebrated it in their traditional style, rubbing and sprinkling colors on each other, the Bengalis exchanged sweets and pleasantries. As the morning progressed, the youngsters moved around their neighborhoods in groups, throwing water missiles and smearing colored powder on one another. In parts of the state, the festival is marked by placing the idols of Krishna and Radha on a picturesquely decorated palanquin, which is carried by the devotees around the town.
Thousands converge for ‘Hola Mohalla’ T IANS, CHANDIGARH
ens of thousands of devotees converged in the Sikh holy town Anandpur Sahib on Thursday to offer prayers at Gurdwara Keshgarh Sahib during ‘Hola Mohalla celebrations that coincides with Holi festival. Anandpur Sahib is home to the second most important Sikh shrine after Harmandar Sahib, popularly known as Golden Temple, in Amritsar. “Thousands of people have
arrived here from across the region to participate in the Hola Mohalla celebrations,” priest Davinder Singh told IANS over telephone. Wearing traditional dresses and carrying weapons, hundreds of Nihang Sikhs assembled for the celebrations and showed their mastery of the Gatka martial art, a treat to the visitors. The three-day celebrations coincide with the Hindu festival Holi. Anandpur Sahib town and shrine, located about 85 km from Chandi-
Sikh devotees spray perfume on the Palki Sahib to mark ‘Hola Mohalla’ in Amritsar. (Photo: IANS)
garh, are famous. It was here in 1699 that the 10th Guru, Gobind Singh, baptized five men and founded the Khalsa Panth, which is the modern day Sikh religion. Chief Minister Amarinder Singh
greeted the people with a call for celebrating the traditional Indian festival with the colors of unity, tolerance, brotherhood and compassion. He urged people to celebrate the festival in harmony.
Holi thoughts from Bollywood SUBHASH K. JHA, MUMBAI
B Actress Katrina Kaif during a Holi party in Mumbai. (Photo: IANS)
ollywood celebrities shared their thoughts on Holi which was celebrated on Thursday. Here’s what they have to say: Lata Mangeshkar: Holi is a festival of colors and a time of peace and harmony. I request the men of the country to desist from hooliganism so that the women can also enjoy Holi without looking nervously over
their shoulders. I wish this Holi all Indians would unite to become one strong and powerful nation, so that no enemy from the outside would dream of attacking us. Shatrughan Sinha: I pray for peace and harmony this Holi. I pray that better sense would prevail over the war-mongerers. And I pray that every Indian resolves this Holi to vote for the parliamentary representatives who would voice the apprehensions of the common man.
Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu: Our country has the beauty of all the colors of the rainbow in its people’s togetherness. Hindustan is unique in its people’s love and respect of happy co-existence. May this always prevail. This is our prayer. Pooja Bhatt: Holi is a time where we need to reinstate and believe in the virtue of being truthful and honest and fight away evil in all its forms. For me, it’s about spreading love in a world plagued with hate.