Country soaks in Holi festivities

New Delhi: The festival of Holi was celebrated across the country with pomp and splendour on Wednesday with people smearing colours on each other and exchanging greetings and sweets.

The boundless celebrations of the festival of colours came after three years of COVID-19 pandemic-induced restrictions. People in several states engaged in festivities on Wednesday, while in some regions the festival was celebrated a day before. President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several other leaders greeted people on the occasion. "May your life always be filled with the colours of joy and enthusiasm," Prime Minister Modi said. US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo joined the Holi celebrations at Defence Minister Rajnath Singh's official residence here. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal joined the celebrations along with senior government and US embassy officials.

The US commerce secretary celebrating Holi in India has demonstrated soft-power bonding and is an example of cultural diplomacy, an official said. In Srinagar, the CRPF battalion headquarters came alive with its personnel dancing to hit Bollywood numbers and drenching each other in water colours. "A soldier who works hard also enjoys thoroughly," commanding officer of the battalion Vijay Khatana told PTI. Most of the personnel of the battalion are posted in sensitive Downtown areas of the city and have to maintain a high level of alertness. In the temple town of Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, the festival is celebrated in a unique way.

Twenty quintals of "tesu" flowers and 50 quintals of "gulal" of varied hues have been stocked at Dauji temple in Baldeo region to celebrate a unique Holi played by "bhabhis" and "devars" -- sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law. As part of the celebrations, womenfolk representing "bhabhis" and "brothers-in-law" play what is locally called "huranga". The women lash the men with wet cotton cloth. "This unique Holi will be played inside the Dauji temple on Thursday. Lord Krishna used to play this Holi with Revati (wife of Krishna's brother Baldeo)," temple priest Govind Pandey told PTI. "The men drench the women with tesu colour, while the women try to save their new clothes from getting spoiled. In the spirit of the festival, the women also tear the clothes of the men and use them as whips," he said.

A man dressed up as Lord Krishna and another as his elder brother sit on a raised platform in the temple, and watch the celebrations unfold as the folk song 'Aaj Biraj Me Holi Re Rasiya' plays in the background. In other parts of Uttar Pradesh, Holi was celebrated with traditional and religious fervour. In a tragic incident, three youths drowned and another went missing while taking a bath in the Gomti river after celebrating Holi in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh. In Shimla, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu celebrated Holi with cabinet ministers, Congress leaders and prominent citizens and hoped that the festival would further strengthen the unity and integrity of the country.

Holi was celebrated in Punjab, Haryana and their common capital Chandigarh with traditional fervour and gaiety as people smeared "gulal", threw balloons coloured water on each other and exchanged sweets. People visited friends and relatives, gifted "gujias" (a traditional sweet) and smeared "gulal" (colour powder) on each other's faces. Colours of all hues and the smell of gulal pervaded streets as people of all ages celebrated the festival.

'Holi Hai' rent the air as groups of revellers zoomed the streets on motorbikes while youngsters danced to popular numbers and children armed with "pichkaris" chased each other and hurled water-filled balloons on people from rooftops. Some hotels and resorts had organised rain dance parties with snacks and buffets. India saw a single-day rise of 326 fresh coronavirus cases, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Wednesday. The country recorded more than 2,500 cases on March 18 last year, the day of Holi.