DIFFERENT HUES

Kolkata Newsline
ifferent-Hues/287087/
March 21 2008
India

When the world outside is smeared in laughter and colours, the alleys
of Tangra remain uncharacteristically quiet on a typical Holi day.

The Chinese community of the city clearly has mixed feelings towards
the festival of colours. "The older members of the Chinese community
of Kolkata do not generally participate in the revelry. However, the
youngsters, who have been brought up in the city are quite gung-ho
about the festival," says Paul Chung, President, Indian Chinese
Association. The likes of Chung however, relate the festival to an
indigenous Chinese festival. "We have a spray-water festival back
home. It’s very much like Holi," adds Chung.

Similarly, the members of the Armenian Christian community of Kolkata
find a little bit of Holi in their own Varti Vor festival. "It’s
generally held during monsoon. Though it doesn’t involve colours, the
sense of festivity is the same," informs Vivian Stephen, a second-year
student of Loreto College. Yet, the orthodox community refrains
from participating in Holi revelries. "Holi generally coincides with
the Easter week, which is a period of abstinence for us. Moreover,
at times, I simply don’t feel like indulging in such high-octane
festivities,’ says Stephen.

Catherina Moss, an Anglo-Indian student of English at the Jadavpur
University, says that if anything irks her about Holi, it has nothing
to do with her religious tradition. "Yes, I try not to go out on
Holi because the revelry is unnerving. You might just end up with
a water balloon on you," says Moss. Moss, like several others from
the city, who don’t have Holi in their religious tradition, doesn’t
mind indulging into a game of colours if it involves close friends
and safe colours. "I like the whole cosmopolitan philosophy the city
has, but then one should not force unwilling people into some sort
of revelry. And this applies to most other festivals," states Moss.

Sangay Dolma Gyaltsen, Moss’s fellow student in Jadavpur University,
echoes the sentiment. "When I came here from Sikkim, I wasn’t quite
familiar with the idea of Holi. My first Holi was spent locked up
in my hostel room, but slowly I was taken in by the spirit of the
festival. Now, I’m an active participator in all Holi revelries in
our campus," beams Gyaltsen. However, she is quick to inform that she
doesn’t attach any religious significance to the celebrations. "I
feel the spirit of Holi is a very secular one. If it were to be an
exclusively Hindu festival, I as a practicing Buddhist wouldn’t have
participated," she says.

The members of the Parsee community of the city too it seems, don’t
mind indulging in a bit of colour-flinging and mithai-binging for
this one day of the year. "When we were younger, my friends and me
would eagerly llok forward to Holi. We would drench each other in
coloured water, indulge in kilos of laddoo and barfis, and dance to
hindi film numbers," laughs Russi Jeejeebhoy, a former member of the
Indian cricket team and one of the more prominent members of the Parsee
community of the city. "However, it’s important to keep in mind that
we can’t force a festival down someone’s throat. If people don’t want
to play Holi, let them be," he says. Spoken in the true spirit of Holi.