MUMBAI, March 13: The concrete jungle splashed itself in colour on Friday, as Mumbai celebrated Holi, the festival of colour, with its usual dose of gusto and fervour.Several residential localities were drenched in colours of all hues, with residents throwing off their inhibitions and moving around with near unrecognisable faces. Groups of people moved from area to area applying gulal and distributing sweets, shouting Holi hai. Children threw balloons with coloured water on passers-by, both on the roads and on the suburban railway services.
All shops, except medical stores and those catering to household amenities, were closed for the day, due to which a walk down the roads eerily reminded one of curfew time. Buses and trains ran empty, as compared to the usual cheek-to-cheek crowds on normal days, so much so that a few conductors and drivers were heard complaining about why they had to run services when there were hardly anybody to cater to. ``Even on Sundays, we do better business, because people govisiting, but not today,'' remarked a conductor in a bus that carried exactly four passengers from CST to Mantralaya.
At Shivaji Park, the official version of the victory of good over evil unfolded, with sheriff Kulwant Singh Kholi inaugurating a sarvajanik Holi in the morning. Chief Minister Manohar Joshi also joined the festivities at the park, and lit an effigy of Holika. Police stations were flooded with people who complained of youths throwing colour, mud and dirty water on them. But police could do little apart from let the revellers off with a warning. After all, Holi hai.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
