By Prateek Choudhary, 2018-2019 President of the Darden South Asia Society
Holi, also known as the “festival of colors”, is an Indian and Nepali spring festival celebrated all across the Indian subcontinent. It signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many, a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships. It is also celebrated as a thanksgiving for a good harvest.
This year, the Darden South Asia Society (DSAS) celebrated Holi on Sunday, 22 April. Although the actual festival was celebrated on 2 March, DSAS wanted the weather to get a little warmer so that we could bring out water guns and water balloons. The event featured 150 pounds of colors in shades of pink, red, blue, green and yellow (just look at people’s faces!). We had tons of food at the event – samosas, kebabs, chickpeas, eggplant, rice and Indian dessert. You could also witness people dancing to the tunes of some Indian Holi songs. One special attraction of this year’s event was a surprise dance prepared by DSAS members.
Could the event get any better? The answer is yes. As we were about to wrap up the event, Dean Scott Beardsley showed up! We, of course, threw colors at him.
Overall, the event was super successful with over 100 students showing up to smear each other’s faces with beautiful colors, drench each other with water and dance their hearts out. You can still see students on grounds with pink faces and multi-colored hair. It was a great way to celebrate the arrival of spring and the end of the school year.
