Holi party in a park

What: Rangleela 2015, in association with t2
Where: Vivekananda Park (south side, near the chaat stalls)
When: March 6
Holi hots: DJ Akash’s music, sprawling greens and some yummy bites meant a rocking party.
Organiser speak: “Rangleela was for the residents of south Calcutta. The primary focus was to give them a feel of the para Holi celebrations, which is rare to find nowadays. From a merry-go-round for children to paintball, hookah and a pool tub section... we tried to cater to all age groups. DJ Akash was also a big USP of the party,” said Jyoti Jhunjhunwala, organiser of the event (Avalanche Events). 

Holiholics made a beeline for the party at 10.30am. In no time, they went from white to colourful, the only saving grace being the protective sunnies! The 3,000-strong crowd danced in the rain to DJ Akash’s Bolly songs and dunked in the pool tub, hands up in the air.

Some signature steps are hard to miss! We spotted this duo doing Kangana Ranaut’s London thumakda move from Queen. Other Holi special tracks were Rang barse, Holi khele Raghuveera, Ang se ang lagana sajan and... Balam pichkari. Bhojpuri tracks added to the ‘desiness’ of the party.

Lakdi ki kathi/ kathi pe ghoda/ 
Ghode ki dum pe jo maara hathauda/ 
Dauda dauda dauda ghoda dum utha ke dauda ... Kids took a free carousel ride while their parents took a hookah break. 

Giant umbrellas and haystacks and tyres summed up the hookah section of the party. “We tried to give this area a rural feel, just like a village mela — a theme popular in Bollywood Holi song sequences,” explained organiser Jyoti Jhunjhunwla. Apart from hookah, vodka phuchka shots, bhang pakora and bhang thandai were the pop picks. 

Samrat Das (centre) gave his DSLR a miss for the selfie stick and went click-happy with friends Nargis and Niharika. “We were 12 of us so the fun was enormous! I had three bhang thandais,” confessed Nargis (left) who clicked “around 30 selfies”.

Pictures: Anindya Shankar Ray