Holi-days: Celebration of colours spread over 48 hrs in city due to date confusion

JAIPUR: With the confusion over dates, this year Holi celebrations went on for two days here. At the residential complexes and colonies, several people, mainly from the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, have decided to celebrate Holi on Wednesday, instead of Tuesday.
"In my complex, only around 80-90 people had gathered to celebrate this occasion on Tuesday morning. Several families, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, has decided to celebrate the occasion on Wednesday. The programme got wrapped up 1 pm, whereas on other years, it goes on until 3-3.30 pm," said Achyut Parashar, the senior member of a housing committee in Mansarovar.
Confusion started this year after Rajasthan government had declared holidays on March 6 and March 7, while neighbouring states have declared holiday on March 8. This is because the Holika Dahan or the full moon took place on the intervening night of March 6 and 7. Since most states observed Holika Dahan on Tuesday, Dhulandi in these states was observed on Wednesday. However, in Rajasthan observed HoliKa Dahan on Monday and Dhulandi on Tuesday. However, most residents, who had celebrated Holi on Wednesday, were compelled to observe the event in their flats or houses.
Most localities and complexes did not allow any celebration publicly on society roads or at common spaces as Wednesday was a working day in the state.
"This year the celebration was not that crowded. We did not have any food stalls, where residents prepare food and sell, as the number of participants were very less. Being a Punjabi, I celebrated Holi on Wednesday. But we observed the event inside our flat because the society members did not allow us to celebrate publicly on Wednesday," said Sukhwinder Singh, resident of a housing society in Mahapura.
For owners of private tankers in Jaipur, it was a dull day. Normally, a week before Holi they are flooded with phone calls from society members to arrange water tankers at their localities so that residents can use this water to play colour. However, this year, the response was very low.
"This time the response was very poor. Most of these colonies and housing societies have ordered one or maximum two tankers. It was like any normal day in Jaipur," said Hanuman Meena, owner of a water distribution company in Vaishali Nagar.