City celebrates Holi with flower petals, gulal

Kanpur: The city, known for its vibrant celebrations of the festival of colours, witnessed grand Holi festivities across the city. The city observes the festival as a week-long celebration that begins on the day of Holi and concludes with the traditional Ganga Mela.

The Ganga Mela is organised on Anuradha Nakshatra, nearly a week after Holi. The date is determined by priests and astrologers. During this period, most major markets in the city remain closed, and trading activities come to a halt.

This year, ‘Phoolon ki Holi' was celebrated at most of the city temples in which flowers replaced the colours. Artists dressed as Radha, Krishn and Shiv performed devotional dances.


At the same time, city localities indulged in colourful celebrations on Wednesday. Public representatives and district officials also joined the celebrations while keeping a close watch on law and order to ensure peaceful and dignified celebrations.

In Arya Nagar area, around 10,000 youths from different localities gathered and smeared gulal on one another while residents showered coloured water from rooftops and balconies.

Meanwhile, people celebrated by throwing coloured water and applying gulal to each other while exchanging Holi greetings. Residential societies celebrated the festival with music and drummers.

At Anandeshwar Temple devotees celebrated Phoolon ki Holi. At Sanjay Van, people celebrated the festival with flower-petals and gulal.

MP Ramesh Awasthi, MLAs Surendra Maithani, Amitabh Bajpai and Salil Bishnoi and Mayor Pramila Pandey also joined the celebrations.

The festivities would continue till Ganga Mela on March 10 at Sarsaiya Ghat where people from all sections of society gather and exchange greetings.