CHICAGO: The Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago in Lemont, Illinois celebrated one of most lively festivals of the year, that is Holi on Saturday, March 15.
Surprisingly, the weather too cooperated on Saturday with Holi revelers and community members gathering in large numbers at the temple by early afternoon to be part of the celebrations. Anticipating big crowds, the temple management opened up four nearby parking lots. Buses were arranged to transport people from these parking lots and with Lemont police controlling the flow of traffic on Lemont Road, things happened in a very orderly fashion.
People had a choice to participate in the religious events or the cultural events that were going on at the same time. The cultural program got to a good start at 2 pm in the Rathi Auditorium of the temple conducted by the cultural committee of the temple. The auditorium was filled to capacity with over 600 people that included the participants and others who came to enjoy the program.
Tilak Marwaha, the vice-president of the temple addressed the gathering and encouraged the audiences to take active part in all the events of that afternoon.
After the cultural program ended, events shifted to the spacious dining hall where Dandiya Raas was held with more than 100 people participating. Men and women, young and old danced with sticks in a circular fashion to the rhythmic beat of the Dhol. As this was going on inside, people who were outside started the most awaited event of the evening – Dulehti – spraying of colors at each other. The Temple brought over 2,000 pounds of colors from India for this event and most of it was sold out within couple of hours.
There were colors everywhere and the celebrations reached a peak with everyone dancing to the beat of Holi songs. Everyone enjoyed the delicious snacks that included soft idlis, piping hot samosas, spicy bhelpuri and chai garam prepared fresh by the temple kitchen. Food stall was so busy that Prasanna Reddy and Jayanthi Mittur, who were serving the items, had hardly any time to step outside and participate in Dulehti (playing with colors).
Later in the evening, before the start of bonfire, Padmini Rao sang a couple of bhajans and priest Shri Ram Parsad of the temple explained the religious significance of Holi to the gathered crowds. Bonfire, called the Holi Dahan was held to close off the celebrations.
At times, during the outside festivities, the number of people who attended had swollen to 4,000 plus, according to an estimate. Traffic coordination by Bhima Rao and Satish Amruthur, color set up and sales by Renuka Reddy and Sridhara Tambarahalli, snack sale help to the outside tents coordinated by Lakshmana Mittur, pooja setup by Shashi Kaveti and audio and DJ setup by Vanamurthy Achari contributed in a big way in making this daylong event run ever so smoothly.
Raghu Baddi
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