Bura Na Mano Holi Hai! This has been a term used for centuries to throw water and colours on people who deny to play or participate in the festival. But is that what the festival of colour represents? Started in the Braj region of India, where the Hindu deity Krishna grew up, the festival is celebrated until Rangpanchmi in commemoration of the divine love of Radha for Krishna. The festivities officially usher in spring, with Holi celebrated as a festival of love. It is a time when people come together to play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships.
But probably not in Delhi! With growing hooliganism, the festival is turning out to be a bitter and sour experience for a lot of people, especially girls every year. But this latest incident has crossed all limits. Students of Lady Sri Ram College, Delhi University have taken to social media to share incidents of how the girls have been getting hit with balloons filled with semen. Sadly, this is probably the first time that someone has been a victim of hooliganism and sexual abuse under the name of celebrations.
The frightening posts narrate how without an inkling of humanism the culprits threw the balloons at them. There is a general sense of disbelief and horror on social media, as people reacted furiously to what has happened.
A girl who took to Instagram has shared a post about her bitter experience. The post has gone viral with screenshots being circulated all over the social media. Her post reads, “My white kurta doesn’t invite you to throw balloons on me. A girl walking alone on road doesn’t invite you to wish her happy Holi by touching her body. 3:58 pm I’m walking on road reading @t******* ‘s posts and thinking how horrible is that and exactly after that I feel a balloon hitting my back and just after some seconds I feel another on my feet. I literally couldn’t move after that and after a min I hear “HAPPY HOLI”. I couldn’t analyse what just happened, I felt so helpless. All the worst things were going in my mind. “What if they come back?” “What should I do? Should I shout?” It’s high time that we all should speak about this and we should take a step against it. I don’t want anyone to feel the way I am feeling right now. Let’s stand against this. Let us tell them the right way. Throwing balloons of semen on women doesn’t prove your masculinity. It is a shame that we connect things like these to our festivals. The whole concept of “Bura na mano holi hai” should honestly get banned because YES we feel bad, disgusting when men like you come out on streets around Holi.”
Naturally, people reacted to the posts with both netizens and LSR Students’ Union and Pinjra Tod‘group, a student union against women harassment violently protesting against the issue. The college has also increased security and given out points of contact for students to reach out to.
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