Atlanta Rang Rangili – Holi Hai 2008

With the blessing of a glorious warm and sunny weather, Alpharetta played host to the Festival of Colors this spring of 2008. Lions Pavilion@Wills Park, Alpharetta was a colorful scene as 700 people including youngsters, children and elders celebrated Holi.

Spring was in the air and reverberating through the ambiance. The saturday morning was still young as Holi enthusiasts started streaming in, eager to enjoy the festival and mark the occasion with joyful colors.

This was the third year when SewaUSA, a non-profit global service organization, the USA affiliate of Sewa International, had organized Holi for the Indian community in metro Atlanta. The crowd turnover was double as of last year, which which underlined the popularity of the occasion. The event was co-sponsored by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh and VHP-America, Atlanta Chapters, Hot Breads and Canton Street Insurance Inc.

Evergreen Holi themed songs filled the air alternating with the latest Bollywood dance numbers. In the midst of music and masti, participants smeared each other with handfuls of color. A unique new feature of this year’s Holi celebration was that SewaUSA provided organic colors (tested for lead content in Chemical Lab) made with natural ingredients instead of the commonly available synthetic colors. The natural ingredients ensured that everyone including young children could use it without restrictions. And use it they did.

The enthusiasm of the people reached its peak as the clear skies and pleasant weather encouraged the festivities. While the crowd rocked to the music, adding to the festive mood was authentic Thandai prepared and served by VHP Atlanta volunteers.

Holi has always been an ideal time to bond with old friends, make new ones, and drown differences in a splash of color and music. Within minutes all the happy faces were coated in color. Soon most people were unrecognizable…all the better an excuse to throw colors on random people and make new friends.

The medley of colors ran from bright reds, sunny yellows, cool blues, soothing greens, pretty pinks and every possible permutation and combination thereof. It was not just the people at the scene who had changed colors; the trees, grass, and entire surrounding landscape were covered in vibrant hues and proudly displayed their new look. No rainbow would have stood a chance against Wills Park that day.

With so many baseball matches going on in Wills Park, a lot of Americans were piqued at the sight of so many wildly joyous, colorful Indians and four-five American families even joined in the celebrations with great fervour. A great example was Krista, who was actually helping organize the event by handling the registration desk. She has been playing Holi for the past three years. Krista, her daughter and her friend's daughter were merry having fun and made new friends.

A wholesome homemade lunch awaited the gang of revelers to keep their spirits boosted. Puri, curries and rice were served in generous measure. Some rushed through lunch to hurriedly get back in the groove. Others enjoyed a leisurely picnic style lunch on the open grounds with family and friends. The parking lot was a unique sight to behold in itself. The ground authorities saw that the huge gathering of people was having a gala time and allowed patrons to park on the grass when regular spots were all taken up.

 Other park visitors and bystanders initially gathered out of curiosity to see what was going on. The Holi crowd invited them to participate in the merry making. Several of them enthusiastically participated and enjoyed the exotic Indian festival of colors.

Some revelers got hold of buckets of water to pour on defenseless people. Creative young minds filled plastic bags with water, using them as gigantic water balloons to be burst on unsuspecting targets. Others filled mineral water bottles with colored water and splashed it around on friends.

Parents hoisted their toddlers on shoulders as the little ones took in the colorful view and gazed in amazement. Many children had brought squirt guns and squealed with delight chasing after friends. SewaUSA volunteers ensured that children who had strayed from their parents were promptly reunited.

The event was concluded at 2.30p.m with a message from SewaUSA to the audience about the organization’s purpose and goals. The ideology of SewaUSA is “Nar Sewa, Narayan Sewa” – to serve humanity is to serve God. The proceeds and donations from the event are donated to agencies in India to fund educational and literacy projects in India.

The mission of SewaUSA is to spread awareness of the grass-root social development projects in India, Suranam, Guyana in the Indian community in USA and raise funds through various cultural, literary, artistic and sports activities. SewaUSA is also committed to work for local causes like working with Savethefamily.org, an institute for promoting family values in African-American people and organizing Health Fairs.

SewaUSA is holding its quarterly Open house at Hindu Heritage Center, Global Mall, (next to global groceries), on 20th April 2008 at between 11:30am to 12:30pm. Anyone interested in knowing about on-going projects and asking questions is welcome to attend.

For further information about SewaUSA activities, contact the Atlanta team at atlanta@sewausa.org. We look forward to having you at our future events!

-Chintanika Desai