Indore: Rang Panchami: City soaks deep in hues of spring

Indore: Reviving memories of Holkar era, residents here celebrated Rang Panchami with traditional and religious fervour on Tuesday. While the festival was celebrated at every nook and cranny of the city, the main event took place at Rajwada which saw a congregation of thousands of revellers.

Five ‘gers’ and two ‘faag yatras’ were taken out amidst shower of gulal and other ‘dry’ colours, with dholaks, DJs and other musical instruments adding more to the already high festive spirit.

Though Rang Panchami is traditionally meant for splashing colours, following the theme of eco-friendly celebrations, faag yatras avoided chemical colours and sprayed only gulaal with water this year. As music, colours and water flew in the air charming everyone in audience, women danced to Holi themed folk songs in the faag yatras.

Local residents didn’t miss any opportunity to have a dekko at the traditional yatra. Gers of various organisations were taken out from several parts of the city which travelled around splashing coloured-water through canons and throwing gulal into air and also on fellow revellers to add more to the already colourful atmosphere.

Water cannons installed on the vehicles splashed colours at an elevation of as high as 150 feet soaking the revellers and forming a point of hullabaloo. And, music too had its role to play as people including women danced to the Holi numbers of Bollywood with utmost enthusiasm.

Over 20,000 people, with faces layered with multiple colours, took part in the gers which were cordially greeted by enthusiasts with bhang and traditional sweets at various locations across the city. And, not only the ‘ger’ participants but also the spectators, who poured into the city from different parts of Malwa region, enjoyed till the last drop.

The gers passed through Telibakhal, Malharganj, Dhanmandi, Tori Corner, Gora Kund, Rajwada, Veer Savarkar market, Sarafa, Itawaria Bazaar, Loharpati and other prominent areas of the city before culminating at Kailash Marg.

According to organisers, the gers deployed a pump to help spray colours to a long distance and on a large number of people. However, the organisers said that they had taken special measures this year to save water.

Meanwhile, district administration left no stone unturned to ensure security and maintain law and order situation in the city as police were seen on its toes and kept strict surveillance during the gers and yatras. Cops also ensured that no motorised transport was able to enter the celebration area at Rajwada to trigger traffic chaos.

A number of boys, who were throwing shoes and other items at fellow revellers, were immediately caught by alert policemen and a minor chaos broke out when police used mild force to disperse the errant youths. However, no arrest was made in the incident. Antisocial elements too were kept under scanner to avoid any untoward incident.

Thanks to their effort, the festival of colours which started with Holi five days ago, passed off peacefully in city.

55-yr-old molests woman on pretext of applying colours

A 55-year-old man was booked for molesting a married woman in Chandan Nagar area on Monday. The accused fled the scene after the incident. According to the police, Ganga Nagar resident victim informed that accused Sakharam Kothe of Kasrawad came to her residence to apply colour on her on the eve of Rang Panchami and on pretext of that molested her finding her alone at home before fleeing the scene. Police have registered a case against the accused under section 354 of the IPC and started investigation into the case.