Keya Sarkar: The changing colours of Holi

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Unlike in the rest of West Bengal, Holi, or Dol as it is called in Bengali, is an important festival in Santiniketan. Instituted by Tagore in the 1920s, Basantautsav still is celebrated in Santiniketan on the day of Holi.

And this is probably the only place in India where Holi is an organised celebration. Organised by the Viswa Bharati University, Dol in Santiniketan is different from the excesses that are associated with the festival in other parts of the country.

A procession of students singing and dancing to Tagore songs, led by the vice chancellor of the University marks the beginning of the celebration to welcome the colours of Basanta.

By seven in the morning they assemble at an open-air cultural centre to continue the music and dance. It is delightful to watch little kids and older students clad in yellow sarees, bedecked with flower jewellery dancing to the tunes of Tagore.

As the dancers throw fistfuls of aabir or dry colour in the direction of the audience, it is a cue for everybody to put colour on each other. Only dry aabir is used and so one can walk around without any fear of being squirted with water or hit by balloons. In these days of globalisation, it is a wonder how the university has managed to preserve almost a century-old tradition.

In the eyes of the veterans, however, the festival has changed. Even 20 years ago, when the festival was still largely for the Viswa Bharati alumni, friends and batch mates, music and dance in little groups would continue under the trees well after the end of the official programme.

The performers were spontaneous, their music infectious, and an absolute treat for listeners. Friends met after a gap of a year and conversation and laughter mingled with the songs to make the atmosphere magical.

All this does not happen now, simply because there is no place to sing and dance. In fact, due to Santiniketan's proximity to Kolkata and its popularity as a holiday destination, the crowds that descend on this abode of peace ever so frequently, is increasing by the weekend.

For Holi, the railways attaches additional bogies, hotels have three-day packages at double the normal rates and roadside eateries who just about do a reasonable alur chop and tea, put up menus that include "chow mien".

This year Holi was on a Friday and the Viswa Bharati authorities knew well in advance that the long weekend would mean that the Basantautsav infrastructure would get stretched. So for the first time in the history of Basantautsav, the university authorities introduced a gate pass to enter the "Gour Prangan", the open-air auditorium.

Who these passes would be given to, how they could be collected and from where, were, of course, secrets known only to those close to the senior management. So the possession of a pass soon became a status symbol and the local community was rife with rumours.

Apparently, over 22,000 passes were printed and were meant for students, alumni and their guests. Many, in fact, believed that the passes were even sold to hotels that put in good enough bids to ensure that they gain the loyalty of their guests. Some were convinced that even the fish vendors had cornered a few passes to please their regular weekender buyers.

Barricades, police, passes were what the university had to use to keep the unruly at bay. A spontaneous celebration of spring, amidst the trees with music and dance loses its character in over bounding. But that this is a sign of our times. For March 25th or Holi this year coincided with the first anniversary of the stealing of the Nobel.