HMM Holi 2017, Colorful Celebration at Vastu

HMM-in-2

By Bhakti Naik

ROSENBERG: Houston Maharashtra Mandal (HMM) celebrated Holi on Saturday, March 4, at its own Vastu in Rosenberg. This was the first grand celebration at the Vastu. HMM has purchased 11.5 Acre property near Rosenberg, Texas and plans to build Shri Siddhivinayak Temple and Community Center at this Vastu.

Holi is an ancient Hindu religious festival that signifies the victory of good (Vishnu) over evil (Holika) and is well known for splashing colors on each other. It also marks the start of spring. It is celebrated all over India and now around the world. Playing colors are the most joyous part of the Holi celebrations. They add life and vitality to the festival. Holi celebrations start on the night before Holi with a Holika – a bonfire. People gather around the Holi, perform religious rituals, and pray with an intention to destroy all the internal evil. The next morning is celebrated as Rang Panchami – a free-for-all carnival of colors, where participants play, chase, and color each other using a safe and dry color powder. Some carry water guns and others colored water-filled balloons for their water fight.

HMM President, Anjou Sathe Keller, with her enthusiastic committee members organized the event very well. From getting the warmth around the Holika bonfire, to playing colors and visiting with friends and family, Holi is a wonderful celebration to bring the community together and celebrate the triumph of good over evil. Entire event footage was captured by Aditya Patil‘s drone which was a big surprise to all.

All the attendees were given Pichkaris (water guns) and Holi colors to celebrate in a colorful way. As we were collecting our colors we saw our friends coming from nowhere to smear colors all over us. Kids, adults, and even seniors had a lot of fun. The sacred Holi bon fire was lit up and crowd gathered and shouted “Holi re holi and Har Har Mahadev”. Waterslides were arranged for all ages, kids no doubt had a blast. There was a DJ organized by cultural committee – Chaitrali Gokhale and Abhishek Bhat. Everyone danced at the classic Bollywood tunes.

HMM-in-1

We were served scrumptious Maharashtrian special lunch prepared by ex HMM President Megha Ozarker along with Puran Poli that was ordered from India by Abhishek Bhatt. Our special thanks to both. Puran Poli is a popular sweet dish typically eaten in Maharashtra. It is a sweet flatbread with a buttery taste and a stuffing of lentils and jaggery. It is served with warm ghee.

It was a dream come true for entire HMM to celebrate the first event at the Vastu. The entire HMM community congratulates the committee members for a yet another fantastic successful event. Huge thanks to HMM committee and Vastu team who made it possible.

The next event by HMM is live concert with Radha Mangeshkar (disciple & daughter of Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar and niece of two greatest living legends, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle) and Hrishikesh Ranade (playback singer of Bollywood and Marathi film industry, recently toured with Shreya Ghoshal to celebrate 100 years of Bollywood) on March 19, 2017 at 4:00 pm at Berry Center. They will sing classic Hindi as well as Marathi songs.

For details and tickets please visit www.hmmhouston.org