Holi Hai!!
We know you will love this post. Holi, the festival of colours falls on 17 March. Two places you should go to experience the spirit of Holi are in Vrindavan in North India and in the State of Utah in the USA.
Poorna always keep talking about Holi in North India. Sometimes i am envious of him as he has seen this all going around the country while in Army. In South India, though celebrated as big festival, still not the way it is celebrated in North, especially in Uttar Pradesh. Vrindavan considered the holy land of Lord Krishna comes alive in a riot of colours for three weeks during this time. The energy, the spirit and the bonhomie among the people in Holi is seen to be believed.
Legend says that Lord Krishna played Holi with 16,000 Gopikas during this period. Splash of colours, grand processions of gods, legends enacted on stage, holi songs......everything get entwined during this time making it an unforgettable experience. Holi solemnises the love of Radha and Krishna. The spraying of colour recalls the love sport of Lord Krishna and His devotees. The colours, noise and entertainment that accompanies the celebration of Holi bears witness to a feeling of oneness and sense of brotherhood. The festival brings home the lesson of spiritual and social harmony!!
We don't want to burden you with more details on mythology. All we say is just go there and have fun. Watch people enjoy. Watch people's reverence to the Lord. Watch people's simple ways of having fun. These Holi Images below just depict that.
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| Girls have fun......on the streets of Vrindavan (Photo Courtesy - Gayle Lawrence) |
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| Splash of colours on Devotees in Banki Behari temple (Photo Courtesy - Sreenivasan Ramakrishnan) |
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| Devotees jostling to enter the temple (Photo Courtesy - Sreenivasan Ramakrishnan) |
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| Am i looking Good?? (Photo Courtesy - Jim Shannon) |
a) Make sure you go to all the key villages where Holi is played - Nandgaon, Vrindavan and Barsana
b) The biggest gathering will be in Banke Bihari temple. Don't miss it.
c) If you are a female traveller travelling alone, it would make sense to go with a friend. Though we don't see any major safety issues as such, it is better to err on the safer side!
d) The crowd sometimes gets boisterous and unruly. Be prepared for it.
e) Don't worry if some one splash colour on you. It is all fun.
f) It will be good to wear protective eye gear so that eyes are protected from colours splashing into it.
g) Try and eat "Bhang Pakoda" - Opium laced onion fritters and drink "Bhang Lassi" - Opium laced yogurt. We bet, you would love it :-)
h) For calendar of events in Vrindavan click on this below
i) Also see brilliant visuals by Sreenivasan Ramakrishnan in his blog here
J) Gayle Lawrence captures the spirit of Holi on the streets of Vrindavan here.
When we were googling for some pictures on the net, we were surprised to see another festival of colours celebrated 10,000 miles away from Vrindavan. In the State of Utah in USA. It looks crazy out there and the spirit resembles Vrindavan. The only difference seemed to be the absence of reverence, mythology and divinity which is attached to celebrations in Vrindavan. We haven't been there and this one gets added to our bucket list!
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| Girls are having fun........in Utah too! (All Photos of Utah - Courtesy Thomas Hawk) |
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| Explosion of Colours |
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| Colourful crowd! |
More details on Festival of Colours in Utah Can be obtained from this link here
For a visual treat of Festival of Colours in Utah, click on Thomas Hawk's pictures here.
It is nice to see people are same around the world. All we need is an excuse to splash colours at each other! Nevertheless, it is time to get coloured. Time to enjoy. These images of holi sure will pull you out to Vrindavan or Utah!
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Back of the blog - Here we will share tit-bits and snippets on India/World Travel which may be useful for a traveller. It may be some new information about the place, a new cuisine one can explore, a bit of history, a funny anecdote or a good travel book. Anything connected to Travel.
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