Holi Festival in Kolkata

somnath

So you’ve discovered the bitter part from the entire post ! Isn’t it a chance to make new friends? Someone may like to remain ‘stranger’ then s/he can simply stay away from the festival….. It is just not possible to walk through the street during Holi to convey I am staying away …. I agree with wonderwoman

OK, I understand that you have some bitter experience here but that’s not the ultimate, my friend. Please do visit our part of the world once again we’ll show you the sweeter part – the major portion. Till then – Holi hai bhai holi hai.

- Cheers.




Hey Nick, are you known to all the members

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atala

If you want to witness the true Holi, I recommend you to visit a large temple, preferably a vaishnava temple, because Holi is a playful ritual originally attributed to Krishna and his girl-friends. Or was Krishna just re-enacting in his lila an already pre-existing ritual?

At any rate, in a temple the Holi celebration follows a certain pattern, before it becomes a wild throwing of color-dust and/or water-color spraying.

A large temple worth a visit would be the Pathbari at Baranagar (pronounced Boro-Nagar), Kolkata, situated near the Ganga.

http://www.nitaisundar.com/site/Main.html

Holi celebration starts on the second day of Holi, this year March 22, in the morning and lasts till noon, approx.

ycl1688

somnath,

thanks for your kind words, i was born in your part of the world,
i am as proud of my birth place as you are. i have been a frequent visitor to calcutta.

what i meant is like others in this board to warn of visitors what to come out of holi on that one particular day, and not
to be in that situation.

i can be out of calcutta, but no one can take calcutta out of me.
to paraphase ' you can take a person out of a ghetto but you cannot take a ghetto out of a person'

somnath

Atala,
How you know about this temple? My God, really I didn’t know about this celebration and see, I am claiming that I am a true citizen of Kolkata ! ha ha ha….
This is one of the reason I love this IM still learning new things about my hometown . Thank you, Atala. Thanks for sharing this information. BTW, anyone has any idea about this celebration at ISKON -Mayapur?


Cheers !!!! Hey don’t forget to drop line here before touchdown – Calcutta meetup is a must.

Paul585

Well,
Here's what happened:
Holi day in Kolkata was good fun. I was mainly in the Sudder St area and so may of those celebrating were foreign tourists, sorry - backpackers, which was OK but didn't feel particularly authentic. Nonthreatening and I was sort of asked before I got dyed. It wasn't too crazy and the SLR camera was OK. Once I'd got a bit on me people left me alone, though that was my choice as I wasn't in the middle of the crowd.
The next day I was surprised to see the celebrations were still going on. I did run into a group of blokes, who may have been drunk, and I got smeared with red dye, which was much harder to remove. This was my fault really and they sort of got my permission first.
However, I could envision situations where a group would go for you in a narrow alley or street as there were a lot of groups roaming about. On this 2nd day many Indian people were going about their business in the street and did not want to get covered in dye, so it wasn't a free-for-all.
Ultimately, the festival did not seem as threatening as some posters here made it out to be, but I'm sure it could be. Just watch out. Stick to main roads, don't get trapped in alleys or corners!
Cheers
Paul

somnath

Hi Paul,
Glad to know you liked Holi.
- Cheers

ScarletLSG

Pictures Paul??