Come spring and India awaits its festival which is a sheer riot of colours. Of all India’s celebrations, Holi is the one that tends to attract the most attention outside the country Elated images of people splattering each other with powders and pigments, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil and the traditional start to the harvest season, picture an atmosphere of utmost joy and abandon that’s a-typical of a country whose rituals are generally characterized by discipline and decorum. ‘This is India letting its hair down’, the pictures proclaim ‘ the subcontinental equivalent of a Thai New Year water-throwing party and beach rave all rolled into one.’
The reality, however, can be a far cry from any of the above – for foreigners in particular. Holi is marked in different ways by a different section of the population, but for its duration, social norms are turned on their head and a traveller who has not researched or planned their trip in advance, would risk entering a street or market and can expect to be mobbed by gangs of hyper-excited youths, high on ‘bhang’ (a potent cannabis preparation) and wielding cycle pumps spitting dyes that will turn your clothes multi colour in seconds, and never wash out.
Mathura
The Braj region of India, between Delhi and Agra, is analogous with Lord Krishna, the Hindu God closely associated with the Holi festival. Matheran, the principal town, is believed to be his birthplace and local shrines host some of the largest and most spectacular celebrations in the country, attracting thousands of visitors, many of whom travel from their villages in open-backed vehicles. A prime example is the Dwarkadheesh Temple, where an astonishing mass of worshippers gather on the morning of Holi to sing, dance, and chant under a cloud of purple Haze.
Vrindavan
The Bankey Bihari Temple in Vrindavan forms the core of Holi celebrations in this ardently Krishna-obsessed town. If you had caught a glimpse of photographs of densely packed courtyards filled with people covered in purple, red, and pink powders, chances are this is where they were taken. This event takes place at the same time as the one in Matheran. One would be insane to attend both.
As a more sane alternative, opt for the Gopinath Temple, where many of the town’s white-clad widows gather to mark the festival, throwing gulal powders and hundreds of kilos of marigold petals over each other as the temple priests play uplifting Krishna songs – a wonderful spectacle, and one with more charm and poignancy than the bash at the Bankey Bihari.
Pushkar
The holy town of Pushkar, on the shores of Lake Pushkar, has been a haven for foreign and local backpackers looking to celebrate Holi Festival, and thousands come down here where a kind of a big party is held in the main square. Chest-thumping Techno music rather than Krishna ‘bhajans’ accompanies the seething mass of ‘gulal’-smothered participants, many of whose shirts end up strung from overhead wires. It’s a rather unlimited affair, fuelled by potent ‘bhang lassis’ (a cocktail of cannabis, yogurt, and sugar).
Barsana
Worth a visit at Holi time would be Barsana, near Mathura, where an eccentric ritual takes place in the afternoon. Men from neighboring Nandgaon process down the narrow street leading to the main Krishna temple until their progress is blocked by a group of women wielding heavy wooden sticks. Ritual blows, delivered with great delight by the ladies, reign down on the men’s special leather shields – a spectacle enjoyed by a huge crowd of onlookers covered in brightly colored gulal powders.
Jaipur
Holi festivities in the Pink City used to be famed by a glittering elephant procession, led by the Maharaja sashaying atop a giant tusker in his gilded howdah, like a vision straight out of Mughal times. Since 2012, though the event has been banned due to concerns over animal welfare, Jaipur still remains a paradise. A major brownie point is the big gala bash in the palace hosted by the royal family in aid of local charities. Tickets to this are as expensive as gold dust but can be managed if arranged if booked well in advance. Traditional Rajasthani folk music and dance performances, along with civilized ‘gulal’ powder play, are held at the splendid old Khasa Kothi Hotel by the local tourism office, while a more religious, devotional atmosphere prevails across town at the Govind Dev-Ji Temple at the heart of the City Palace, where the Krishna and Radha deities are heaped with marigold flowers and hymn with joyous ‘Holi bhajans’.
Varanasi
Celebrating Holi in Varanasi, India’s holiest city on the Ganges River, is not essentially as idealised as it sounds. The sacred riverside steps, or ghats, have a wonderful atmosphere in the evening when worshippers gather in their best Holi clothes to leave offerings at the temples and shrines. But the morning celebrations out in the streets are definitely something to witness: the maze of passageway emerging from the ghats swarm with local boys intent on drenching foreigners with powder paints, and the encounters are sometimes a little over the top. So our advice is to be a little extra cautious. We do, however, recommend a walk around the old city the night before Holi, when statuettes of demons and evil goddesses are burned on blazing bonfires in the streets. This is the time to stock up on ‘gujiya’, the local Holi sweet.
Amritsar
Few non-Hindu visitors know of its existence which makes Amritsar another of the best places to celebrate the Holi Festival, but Amritsar holds a second ‘Golden Temple’, dedicated to the Goddess Durga. This shrine sits on a rectangular lake, reached by a narrow causeway. Its marble-lined boundaries are the focus of an enjoyable celebration on the morning of Holi when locals and pilgrims jolly well play ‘gulal’. Foreign visitors are considered gullible. But things don’t get into any unpleasantness here, even for women. It’s a family-friendly event and one of anyone’s favourites, involving as many Mums and Grandmas as trigger-happy teenagers.
Udaipur
The royal palace in Udaipur is the best place one has to be on the eve of Holi, known as ‘Holika Dahan’ when the local Maharaja lights a ceremonial bonfire in the central courtyard to mark the start of the celebrations. Later on, guests retire for cocktails and a lavish dinner, followed by a firework display. Foreign visitors tend to gather in groups the morning after in the ‘chowk’, near Jagdish temple to play with ‘gulal’ powders – the local tourism police maintain quite a disciplinary order so you don’t see the kind of madness that prevails in the local bazaars.
We say, follow your heart, get drenched in gulaal, let your hair loose in a riot of colors of spring. Yet take your mind along. The pandemic struck Holi last year was a subtle toned-down affair which might not be any different now with the variant & the third wave-making news. Nevertheless, every Indian would hum the Holi songs and sway away to the beats in their imaginary world!
