Hola Mahalla

While most of the trips undertaken since coming to Delhi have been last moment plans, this one I was intending to take since the missed opportunity last year. Holi, means different things to different people. Hola (the Sikh festival) held at Anandpur Sahib is traditionally a three day event but participants attend Anandpur Sahib for a week, camping out and enjoying various displays of fighting prowess and bravery, and listening to kirtan, music, and poetry. At the foothills of the Shivalik, the festival that was started by Guru Gobind Singh ji is a traditional celebration of the fierce Khalsa Panth. It was perhaps a light moment, where amidst mock fights and displays of martial arts, the fighters who were in the midst of fighting both Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire and the Hill Rajputs, The highlight of the festival though is not the gatkas (mock battles) or the spectacular horse races that I shall show you. One small township ... thousands of sikhs from all around ... at times huge extended families camped in a truck for the three days, celebrates this festival as a community. And at the core of the celebrations, the langars, (community meals) for nothing says unity better than these shared meals.