Rolls Royce Holi
Every year, just as India steps into spring, thousands gather in the narrow bylanes of north Kolkata, clutching fistfuls of gulal (coloured powder). The atmosphere is wildly festive as a procession rolls down the neighbourhood of Burrabazar, with loudspeakers blaring spiritual songs of devotion. The celebrations invoke the spirit of Holi, a Hindu religious festival symbolic of the triumph of good over evil, where people traditionally smear each other with colours to mark the beginning of spring.
But in the bustling lanes of Burrabazar, it’s not just people who are doused in decadent colours. The main attraction out here is a vintage Rolls-Royce car that once belonged to the writer Rudyard Kipling. Yep.
Decked in flowers and other finery, the nostalgic Rolls-Royce leads the celebrations down the streets of Kolkata, attracting massive crowds of revellers along its journey. The car doubles as a chariot, with a throne on which sit the icons of the Hindu god Krishna and his beloved Radha.
Rudyard Kipling used the car for six years, before selling it to Kumar Ganga Dhar Bagla in 1927. Bagla came from an influential family that owned estates in the province of Calcutta that was then a major British settlement and once the capital of colonial India.
Since coming into the hands of the Baglas, the car became an integral part of the city’s legacy. This car with the chassis number #6UE was a rare variant of the Rolls-Royce that was altered into a chariot for the ceremonial procession, & has become a moving temple. The Bagla family’s estate included a Satyanarayan temple in which the idols of Radha-Krishna are housed, which led them to dedicate the car as a symbol of their devotion to the temple. Today, the temple is the main organiser behind this celebration.
Kipling, the first British writer to win the Nobel Prize in literature, was born in British India, and cultivated many of his iconic stories around his experiences here. Also a poet and journalist, he is best known for the story collection The Jungle Book.
