Mumbai: The festival of Holi was celebrated with great spirits across the country and similarly Mumbaikars also indulged themselves in playing Holi at various places across the city with utmost zeal. This year, the long weekend during the festival allowed Mumbaikars to celebrate Holi at various resorts around the city which had special arrangements for the festival.
The two-day festival of Holi was celebrated with great enthusiasm in Mumbai. Across the city, housing societies celebrated holika dahan on Sunday to mark the victory of good over evil. The celebrations had started fifteen days prior at all the Koliwadas in the city where the members of the Koli community celebrated holi according to their traditional ways.
The celebrations with colours had started from Sunday itself as people could be seen playing holi in the streets across Mumbai. Like every year, the beaches of Mumbai saw huge crowds on the day of Holi as people from across the city gathered to celebrate with their friends and family. Juhu Beach was one of the most crowded beaches on Monday, as people from far off places visited the beach to play with colours and take a dip in the sea.
Zalak Sanghavi, one of the visitors at Juhu Beach, said, “Every year, I come to Juhu beach to play holi with my cousins and this is the best place in the city to celebrate such a festival. There are so many groups coming here with their own music systems, wishing each other for the festival and enjoying is totally a kind of vibe people should not miss.”
Since the last few years, the city is seeing various commercial events for Holi which has been attracting a lot of youngsters. These events, which are organised at beach-side hotels, public grounds and other grand venues, offer unlimited colour, food, drinks and non-stop music. ‘These events have a lot of activities for the guests so people like us who are coming in small groups can also actually enjoy it with more people. Also, we do not have to carry anything with us, since the organisers provide everything from colours to food,” said Shruti Phadke, who celebrated the festival at a commercial event.
This year, as the festival on Monday allowed people to enjoy a long weekend, a lot of Mumbaikars went on a weekend getaway and enjoyed the festival at different resorts outside the city. Special arrangements were made at these resorts to allow their guests to have an exciting Holi celebration.
“The three-day weekend allowed us to plan a trip outside the city and we decided to celebrate holi in a resort. While the events in the city offer only pool-side parties, these resorts offer rain dance, wave pool, snow rain and other amenities specially for holi which makes up the celebration,” said Mayur Singh, who celebrated Holi at a resort in Karjat.
