Fun-filled Festival of Colors at Sunnyvale Temple

Raj Bhanot (center) with Temple volunteers

SUNNYVALE: Thousands of Indians braved the gloomy weather forecast of rain to celebrate Holi at the Sunnyvale Temple, California on Saturday, February 27. The weather co-operated with the revelers, staying clear and slightly cool.

The Festival of Colors, Holi, is held to celebrate the arrival of Spring on the last day of the last month of the Hindu calendar, Phalgun. It also celebrates the victory of good over evil with the Holika Dahan, the lighting of the Holika fire, which was held on Friday, February 26 at Sunnyvale temple.

Throngs of people dressed in white, the better to show off the colorful end results of playing with gulal (dry colored powder), danced to the insistent beats of Bollywood music and Bhangra. Family groups along with college going students and senior citizens all enthusiastically danced for 2-3 hours, sharing colors with friends and strangers.

As part of their community outreach program, the Census 2010 team was also out in force providing a visible reminder of the upcoming 2010 Census. The Census which is held every 10 years is trying to ensure that every person in every community responds to the Census, according to Vinay Khanna of the team.

The lunch program, where supposedly over 5000 people were served, was followed by a cultural program where little and not so little children got to showcase their talent on stage.
Raj Bhanot, Sunnyvale Temple Treasurer said, "We are very happy with the Holi celebration which was a great success due to the hard work by the Temple volunteers".

As people trickled slowly home, the last people left were the ones hosing down the multicolored Holi playing area- red, blue, purple, green, yellow streams of gulal and water snaking down into drains, symbolizing the end of Holi till it comes back again next year.

- India Post News Service