PANJIM: The Capital city was deserted this Holi as its residents abstained from smearing colours on each other as a mark of respect to their ‘bhai’ late Manohar Parrikar and mourn his death, who represented the Panjim constituency for more than two decades.
The star attraction of the Holi festivities annually in the capital, the celebrations organised by the BJP Panjim Mandal at Azad Maidan was cancelled and as such the city too remained colourless on the day when the rest of the country immersed into colours.
Late Parrikar was very active in attending the public celebration of Holi at Azad Maidan annually, until 2017.
Except for a few colonies and individual houses where one could see children running around with colours and ‘pichkaris’, major part of the city did not celebrate ‘rangpanchami’, the day of colours.
Panjim Corporator Shubham Chodankar recalled that every year the Shigmotsav Samiti would begin the day by seeking the blessings at Mahalaxmi Temple and thereafter all would gather at Azad Maidan to celebrate rangpanchami.
He said “Manohar bhai would lead all of us first to seek the blessings and thereafter play with colours with us at Azad Maidan.”
Shubham said that despite the social media’s widespread use during festivities, it was observed this Holi that the exchange of greetings too had dipped and festive greetings were rare. “Normally youth would plan and organise or at least meet, but today it felt as if our feet were holding us back and we didn’t want to go out. Everybody is yet to come out of the grief that a person who celebrated this day with them for almost 30 years, was not amidst them now,” he added.
Panjim’s lanes were deserted except a few tourists moving around and few migrant employees who were out to play with colours as the markets too were shut down.
The city’s markets too did not have Holi business as usual, with shops and vendors shut down their business. The sale of colour this rangpanchami was the lowest in decades, according to observers.
