With colorful powder creating a rainbow in the sky and the sound of laughter filling the atmosphere, students have the opportunity to push aside their differences and come together to celebrate the festival of color. Water balloons fly through the air and create a splash drenching their clothes. Junior Sai Aki, President of OTHS South Asian Association, helped organize the Holi event on March 8, at Rivergreen Park Ln due to his fondness for the cultural significance of Holi.
“When I was younger, I used to go to Sunday classes for Hinduism and learn about Indian culture,” said Aki. “I remember when I was younger, we would have an annual Holi event, and that was fun for me because not only is it part of our culture symbolizing good over evil, but it also is meant for people to have fun and be colorful because it is a vibrant celebration.”
Holi is an important celebration to Aki because it was a crucial part of his upbringing that carries a lot of memories. Aki also enjoys seeing everyone come together and have fun regardless of differences the community has with each other. This year’s Holi surpassed their expectations because they were able to fix last year’s mistakes. The OTHS South Asian Association and Hindu Student Organization had a chance this year to make it more enjoyable by buying more water balloons, color powder and playing songs in the background. Although the event was very successful, there were some setbacks they faced in terms of preparing the water balloons.
“I think this year we were able to work on some of our mistakes from last year, especially with the water balloons, which everyone seemed to love. My back was in pain because I was bent over constantly reloading the water balloons, it was a war zone, I also remember running away from people with the cooler because in two seconds flat it would all be gone and it took so long to refill them,” said Aki. “It was really fun, and if you want to experience the culture, Holi is the best event to go to because it is a very sporty and fun activity and is not hardcore culturally. I did see a lot of non-Indian people, and they had a lot of fun and they loved the way it was executed.” ‘Come next year’.”
Senior Anvitha Kondapi is President of the OTHS Hindu Student Association and helped organize the Holi event. For Kondapi, Holi is a fresh energy to start the new season and she enjoys being able to let go of negative energy with each other.
“My favorite memory is that no matter who the people are at Holi, we were all there to have fun, despite whether we had problems with each other or anything,” said Kondapi. “In that time and place, everyone was just having a really good time, and seeing that shows how powerful our community and culture is.”
