The entire city wore a festive look as people took part in Holi celebrations here on Friday. Barring stray incidents of arguments between youths, the celebrations passed off smoothly amidst the vigilance by the police.
Celebrations began early in the day. However, the festival was dampened for PUC students as they were busy preparing for the ongoing examinations.
Groups of youngsters threw colours at each other, pots with colours and curd were broken and coloured water was splashed at passers-by.
For the revellers, while it was colours in the morning, it was sweet dishes in the afternoon as sweets, especially ‘holige’, was prepared in every household.
Some organisations had even arranged for live music and dance at Gandhi Chowk and Sangam Circle.
The rain dance was a big hit and youths gathered near Sangam Circle and danced in the artificially created fountains which gave them some respite from the scorching sun. The celebrations began early on Friday with ‘Kamannas’ being burnt in every streetcorner.
Later, most revellers culminated at Line Bazaar Road, and at Jayanagar Cross to take part in pot-breaking competitions. As groups of youth try to break these pots by forming a pyramid, others splash colour water on them to see that they do not succeed.
As an added attraction this year, ‘halige’ beating, and folk song competitions were organised.
Belagavi
The festival was celebrated from early morning in Belagavi. People danced to Kannada, Marathi and Hindi songs and threw colours at each other. Mannequins of Kamanna were burnt on Thursday night amid the sound of drums and slogans about the festival. A mega ‘Holi milan’ dance was organised in the Vaccine depot grounds in Tilakwadi.
There were rain dances for the young and traditional dances for women and senior citizens. A separate section was created for women.
Prabhakar Kore, MP, inaugurated the celebrations.
“We had to be extra careful as Holi celebrations fell on a Friday. We stationed some squads near mosques and dargahs. Some mobile squads went around sensitive areas,” a police officer said.
The Kittur Channamma all woman squad visited areas where events to allow women play Holi were organised. Most schools and colleges remained closed on Friday.
Raichur and Yadgir
A bullock cart with drums filled with different liquids passed the main streets in Yadgir. Youths, who accompanied the cart, splashed colours at each other and others. In Raichur, youths took out a process during the celebrations.
