Holi festival spreads colours and joy on both sides of the fence

With colour-stained hands, people threw clouds of powdered blue, purple and yellow into the sky next to the Z-building dome on campus. Particles of colour freckled people’s hair and faces. The wind carried coloured clouds through the event’s fence, blotting the chainlink barrier with green.

Interrupting the music and laughter was a message delivered through a bullhorn: the Holi festival had reached maximum capacity. Nobody else was getting inside until more people came out.

Asheeka Hakkim entered the event earlier in the day and came back later to enjoy it with friends.

But they never made it back inside.

“For Holi, you have to enjoy it with every single person you know. I may not know other people here, but if they’re here, we enjoy it together,” said Hakkim behind a smiling face covered in yellow powder.

“It’s not fun if half of us is outside, half of us inside.”

The two-hour Holi festival was a celebration of colour hosted by Algonquin College on March 14.

Holi is a Hindu festival of colours celebrated on the last full moon of Phalgun, the last lunar month in the Hindu Calendar. The celebration marks the end of winter, the triumph of good over evil and welcomes spring. Each colour used can represent its own meaning: red symbolizes love, green is for new beginnings and blue represents the God Krishna.

The event was a hit. A line formed with people waiting for their chance to get in.

Clouds of smoke filled the air and powder mixed with the snow on the ground. Students inside the fenced venue walked over streams of blue, red, green and purple. They danced to the music of DJ Sutra and live performances by the Algonquin College Ghar Club. They held packages of powdered colour mix, either tossing the powder or using the colour on their hands to paint each other’s faces.

For those inside the event, Holi was a day of dance and spreading colours.

“You throw colours at everyone to make everyone the same colour like Krishna did to Radha and her friends,” said Diya Bajpai, explaining the meaning behind Holi. “You play music, you have fun. It’s something where, no matter who, like strangers and everyone all just have fun together.”

For both Bajpai and her friend Jorja Patterson, this was their first time celebrating Holi. After getting their colour packets inside the fenced event, Bajpai and Patterson began throwing their colours at each other before joining other people, offering a “Happy Holi” as music and beating drums played.

“I’ve always wanted to do it because I’m Indian but I’ve never experienced the full festival of Holi, just at home in the snow,” said Bajpai happily. “This is really good, really good.”

The music filled the fenced-off venue and the sounds trailed off to the people waiting in line, which reached the parking lot.

The celebration didn’t stop for the dozens of people waiting outside the fence.

Students and friends filled the air with laughter, throwing colour packets while waiting. Groups of people took photos, sang along with the few words of songs that they could hear, lightly tossed colour-stained tufts of snow over the fence and spray-painted each other’s clothing.

Holi is about community, and the community can’t be removed from festivals with bouncers — or fences. So, Hakkim took the celebration into her own hands.

“I brought the colours with us so that they could have a little colour on them. They could put some happiness in it,” said Hakkim, surrounded by her group of friends who were covered in clouds of green, purple, yellow and blue.

Vishesh Kumar also wasn’t able to get into the event. “The queue is so long,” said Kumar 20 minutes before the event’s conclusion. Despite not getting in, Kumar was happy Algonquin College hosted an event in the first place.

“I’m seeing it for the first time and it’s very great,” said Kumar. “I like the way the college is celebrating our festival, so I appreciate that and I hope everyone likes the hospitality from the college.”

Everyone on the inside and outside of the Holi festival’s fence aimed to spread joy to old friends and new people with every cloud of colour they threw.

For Sona Benny, her first time participating in the event was largely spent outside with her friends, all covered in bright colours. Despite staying outside the fence, her expectations for the day never dimmed.

“It’s just (about) happiness and the things we share with everyone,” said Benny.