Police On Alert As Holi Fervour Grips Capital

With the people of Delhi gearing up to celebrate the festival of colours, shops and stalls selling pichkaris (squirters), gulal (coloured powder) and sweets are doing brisk business.

Various Holi milans have also been organised throughout the Capital to celebrate this festival with traditional gaiety and enthusiasm, like the Holi milan organised at Dilli Haat by the Delhi Tourism in co-operation with the UP Tourism, replete with qawwalis, music and folk-dances.

For kids too, the pistol and rifle-shaped pichkaris on display in various sizes and colours at markets are a big draw. The gulal available for sale have also been priced as per their quality.

 

"Buy this soft one. It's like dipping your hands in butter and it won't prick your skin," suggests a stall-owner helpfully. Asked about the level of sales, he confesses, "The customers are no doubt there. But while earlier, there would be only a few shops, now there are dime-a-dozen."

But the shoppers certainly aren't complaining. Says Rajiv Sharma, a government employee shopping with his family at INA Market, "Holi is a festival everyone looks forward to as it is a family occasion. While children love playing with pichkaris and gulal, the adults are no less enthusiastic when it comes to playing Holi," he laughs.

Says Ajay Gupta, another shopper, "Holi is a reminder of the inherent strength of our culture. Notwithstanding Valentine's Day and other such celebrations imbibed from the West, there is a strong earthy feel to this festival," he grins.

But it's precisely the nature of this revelry that makes many women apprehensive. Believes Rachna Singhal, a marketing executive: "Ideally speaking, Holi should be a festival when women too, can let their hair down and freak out. But with growing hooliganism and lumpen elements trying to forcibly apply colours, women are more concerned about their physical safety than anything else," she says.

States her friend Anita Sabharwal, "Holi has become an occasion when ruffians get a social license to misbehave with women. Very often, the mistaken perception seems to be that this kind of a behaviour is part of the Holi revelry and that the complainant should forget about it," she points out.

Another factor that worries people is the impact of low quality gulal especially on the skin, respiratory system and eyes. Feels Vandana Mehta, a student: "While traditionally, the colours were prepared with herbal extracts, nowadays we have a whole lot of cheap gulal full of harmful chemicals that can spoil the skin and harm the eyes. But in the midst of all the revelry, I wonder how many will remember that," she wonders.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have made elaborate arrangements to deal with eve-teasing and hooliganism.