As confirmed cases of novel coronavirus crossed 40 in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah said they will not participate in Holi milan events and have cautioned against mass gatherings. Health minister Harsh Vardhan said PM Modi’s decision “has a big message”. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cited the violence caused in Delhi riots as another reason for skipping celebrations.
ThePrint asks: What is the best way to enjoy Holi in times of coronavirus?
Best way to ‘enjoy’ Holi is to be at home, eat your favourite dishes and spend time with your family
Prashant Dixit
Senior copy editor
Why do we need the fear of coronavirus to be cautious on Holi? Isn’t this ghastly festival dangerous enough to simply avoid it at all times?
Holi is not a festival that spreads joy for all. It is society’s license to goons and creeps to do anything they want with women, men, animals – anyone they can get hold of on the streets. And these thugs have a powerful line on their side that society has given its consent to while taking away the consent of those at the receiving end of the line: Bura na maano Holi hai. Get lost already. It’s a shame that the perceived sense of ‘offending’ Hindus for their religio-cultural abomination has forced Indian society to put a cover over the danger that comes every year.
Holi isn’t a cause for celebration. The most common refrain in households is to not step out of the home. Don’t go out because it isn’t safe. A day of celebration is a safety hazard with people’s greetings to each other almost always followed by a plea to be safe.
So, the best way to ‘enjoy’ Holi is to be at home, eat your favourite dishes, spend time with your family and not step out under any circumstances.
No need to boycott Holi celebrations as long as one is in the company of trustworthy friends & family
Mohana Basu
Special Correspondent, ThePrint
I do not see why we should boycott the festival of Holi entirely in the wake of coronavirus.
A person who might have symptoms of flu should avoid Holi gatherings in any case because being drenched or exposure to dry colours can exacerbate symptoms. For all others, the festival may as well be like any other day, albeit the extra hour that one needs to put in to thoroughly clean themselves after the celebrations.
At most, this year, perhaps one should consider limiting their Holi milan guest lists to include only those people they know and trust. Many Indians who love the festival, but struggle with respiratory disorders, choose to wear masks to protect themselves from inhaling dry colour particles.
For those who want to be extra cautious, such masks may not be a bad idea for Holi this year. Washing your hands at regular intervals and not eating from the same plates would be prudent.
Overall, as long as you are in the company of trustworthy friends and family, who maintain basic personal hygiene and do not have flu-like symptoms, there is no reason to completely boycott the festival of colours.
This Holi, sit back, pick up a book, whip up some hot chocolate or just binge-watch good movies on Netflix
Urjita Bhardwaj
Journalist, ThePrint
The coronavirus scare has hit India like a tsunami —everyone is feeling paranoid.
At times like these when one is conscious enough to not visit crowded places, use a sanitizer every 10 minutes and maintain a safe distance from anyone having flu-like symptoms, the safest way to celebrate Holi is to stay indoors.
Moreover, at a time when the national capital is going through the trauma of the riots that claimed more than 50 lives, it is not the happiest of times to celebrate any festival.
Even though people love to enjoy Holi by smearing colour on each other’s faces, sometimes forcefully, this time it can be different.
Sit back, pick up a book of your choice, whip up some hot chocolate, may be cook a nice meal, binge-watch movies on Netflix, sink in your bean bag and relax. So, there’s no need to do any of these: dirty your hands, spoil your clothes, subject yourself to loud music or put up with uncouth people on the streets (a common phenomenon during Holi).
This Holi, spend time with yourself, may be devote some time to introspect or just spend the day sleeping. If nothing else, it may just help keep the ‘C’ virus at bay.
Best way to play Holi during coronavirus is by going ‘swadeshi’ — using mud & water, not China-made colours
Tarun Krishna
Correspondent, ThePrint
In times of coronavirus, the best way to play Holi is by going swadeshi. Like many other products in India, even Holi colors are made in China, from where this virus originated.
As per a report, 90 per cent of Indians use Chinese colours to celebrate Holi. And there are other reports on how the situation in China can spoil the spirit of the Indian festival this time around. So, going swadeshi is the best way to enjoy Holi. When I use the word ‘swadeshi’, I don’t mean it in a way the right-wingers or anti-China campaigners would mean.
I am from Bihar, and despite the China-made colours having being sold in the markets here way before coronavirus broke out, we have been playing Holi with mud, gobar (cow/buffalo dung) and dust. Small pits are dug and filled with water, after which people are thrown into them. Anything in hand from gobar to dust is used. That way, we save a lot of water as well.
Irrespective of whether you are a leftist, a liberal or an environmentalist, it may surprise you to know that minus gobar, even the left-leaning JNU wallas celebrate Holi the Bihar way.
I am a little grateful coronavirus scare will keep people off the streets; it will definitely keep me safe
Angana Chakrabarti
Journalist, ThePrint
As a woman in India, Holi has never been an enjoyable festival for me. This day has only meant further incursion into the limited spaces I can have. So, every year around Holi, my paranoia accentuates and I can do little to comfort myself.
A few years ago, I had visited Jaisalmer on this fateful day. I ended up being stranded inside the fort alone, on one of the rooftop restaurants with a foreign tourist, out of sheer fear of the hordes of men who had gathered on the streets. Consent has never been a thing on this day of the year.
So, in some ways, I’m a little grateful that the coronavirus scare will keep people off the streets; it will definitely keep me safe. But there are still small joys that one can get from any festivity, even during unsafe times — party, sweets and friends.
With the right amount of sanitiser and a few masks, this might still be possible. If nothing else, curling up with a good book would be a great way to cheer up on Holi.
Also read: With centre-state political standoff, can coronavirus outbreak be effectively fought?
By Unnati Sharma, journalist at ThePrint
All these negative observations about Holi apply to North India. In South, we are more law abiding and are safe, with or without Holi! Incidentally, the negative observations would equally apply to Valantine’s day or New Years eve Revelry, won’t it?
I agree with M,B .she is positive.
Holi is time for fun and celebration and shed down inhibitions.
I always felt during my younger days, why this is not being celebrated in the south India esp. in chennai etc by local people even though north Indian friends may be celebrating.
I really used to appreciate the free and outgoing nature of of the youngsters which we can observe
during these festivities ,of course when played with friends and neighbors within limits.
Observe – from a safe distance – others having fun. A very dear friend, from Benares, drops in at home each Holi. Applies, gingerly, a little colour on the forehead.