On Wednesday, the Haryana government banned public celebrations of Holi this year due to the rising COVID-19 cases in the state. Over the last week, the state has been regularly reporting over 800 new cases every day. The order, days before the festival, did force few revellers to change their grand
Holi plans but largely, Gurgaon residents say that they would have gone for muted Holi celebrations this year anyway.
Most people say that due to the rising cases and as a mark of respect to the people who lost their lives in the pandemic, their Holi celebrations will either be just symbolic or negligible. Shatakshi Agarwal, a DLF Phase 3 resident, says, “It has been a difficult year for everyone with so many people losing their lives to COVID and many others suffering financial strain due to it. I don’t see how one can celebrate after that. That’s why I have decided not to celebrate Holi beyond just applying gulaal to my family at home. We need to respect the virus and the fact that it is still spreading and have sober celebrations this year.” Others argue that a Holi celebration – even if small – is necessary to symbolise that 2021 will be a different year, full of hope. Vijendra Rawat, a Sector 56 resident, says, “Of course, grand celebrations make no sense but we should not do away from celebrating Holi altogether. The vaccine is here and things are looking up this year. I think celebrating Holi will symbolise hope. Of course, we need to keep in mind social distancing and take necessary precautions. We are doing just that – two families, getting together and celebrating, taking all necessary precautions."
Most celebrations in Gurgaon this Holi are small and private. Hardly any public celebrations had been planned and any that were, have been cancelled since the state government’s order.
Vibha Mathur, member of the RWA of a group of apartments in Sector 50, tells us, “We used to have a huge rain dance party on Holi in the society every year. But like last year, we have decided to suspend that this year as well. There will be no community lunch either.”
Other societies are trying to get the residents together, albeit virtually. Rakesh Sharma, a resident of MG Road, says, “Our RWA has decided to have no celebration on Holi this year. We are just organising a children’s colouring competition on the festival but that is to be done by kids at home. No physical events are taking place.”
Many RWAs in the Millennium City are still holding a Holika Dahan puja on Sunday night, but there too, the attendance is limited to one person per household (or even per block or building in bigger societies) in order to ensure social distancing and less crowd.