Patna, March 12: Retired IAS officer Shyamji Sahay (76) still remembers how the vibrant colours of Holi used to be prepared at home during the 1960s in Patna with everybody in the family extending their help to make colours from flower petals. The cumbersome process of making colours used to start two months before the festival.
"The tradition has got lost somewhere. I still remember when I was just 15 and how my sister-in-law and other family members would start preparations for Holi two months before the festival. Most of the colours, which we used to smear on each other, used to be prepared at home. Flowers used to be bought and their petals were dried to prepare the hues," rued Sahay, who retired as special secretary from the public health and engineering department (PHED) in 2003.
Senior citizens like Sahay rue that the festival of colours is not the same it used to be several decades ago. According to them, Holi has lost its charm as not all traditions are followed nowadays.
According to Sahay, the traditional Holi songs, including jogira and chaiti songs, were an indispensable part of the festival.
"People used to come out of their houses and visit various localities to smear their friends' faces with colours. The idea was to touch as many people, but now people play Holi only within their apartment walls and houses. Earlier, people used to include their neighbours in the festival. This helped build bonhomie among people. But now they don't include neighbours any more," Sahay said.
S.N. Choudhary (89), the treasurer of the Federation of Senior Citizens' Association of Bihar, echoed Sahay. He, however, was quick to point out the reason why people were confining themselves during celebrations now.
"Earlier, people did not create a ruckus during Holi, but nowadays youths roam the streets on their bikes and create nuisance. They often look out for girls to tease or molest. This is why people have stopped coming out of their houses during Holi," said Choudhary, a former chief controller in the railways.
He added: "Though a few non-government organisations have started organising Holi Milan programmes, those are simply for show and nothing else."
According to the elderly, traditional outfits and dishes have also made an exit from the celebrations.
"I still remember the kind of excitement I used to have whenever I wore a crisp new kurta pyjama during Holi. The festival was meant for wearing traditional dresses. Being rooted in your tradition helps in overall development of personality. These days, youths wear jeans and shirts because of which all festivals look the same. Also, customary food items like malpua and dahi vada are bought from shops unlike in our times when these were prepared at home. The fun during the preparation has also got lost somewhere," Sahay said.
There are others, however, who feel that not all changes are worrisome. After all change is the only constant.
Neurophysician Dr Gopal Prasad Sinha (75), however, hopes a little bit of change in tradition should not be considered bad.
"As far as the doctors' community is concerned, we are trying to maintain the old norm of visiting friends during the festival. A large group of doctors assemble at one place in Rajendra Nagar every year during Holi. This was started a few years ago and we wish to continue it as long as we can," he summed up.
