Tomatoes were the flavour of Holi instead of gulal at Funtasia Island, Sampatchak, on Tuesday, a day prior to the festival.

Hundreds of revellers celebrated Holi à la La Tomatina style, a traditional festival of Spain.

Though there are many theories revolving around the festival, which started in Bunol, Spain, in 1944 or 1945, no one is certain about its origin. One of the more popular theories is that an irritated mob attacked city councilmen with tomatoes during a celebration.

Revellers hurled squashed tomatoes at each other and danced to the tunes of PSY’s Gangnam and other Bollywood hits at Sampatchak on Tuesday. Around 2,000kg of tomatoes were squashed.

Anju Bhargav, a homemaker and a resident of Boring Road who came to the water park with her husband and kids, was more than ecstatic. She insisted such events should be organised at regular intervals to give that “metro feeling”.

Another resident of Patliputra Colony, Shekhar Singh, said playing with tomatoes is much safer as there is no chance of skin damage.

Couple were charged Rs 750; stags paid Rs 500 as entry fee. They had a blast as they entered the pool full of tomatoes and started squashing them. The revellers also enjoyed snacks, Chinese dishes and mocktails.

Managing director of Vivid Management India Pvt. Ltd, Priyanka Roy, said: “The idea is to make people aware of La Tomatina festival. It is a very regular affair in other metros, but new for Patna. The timing couldn’t be better with Holi round the corner.”