With colourful powders in hand, members of Cayman’s Indian community gleefully celebrated the annual Hindu festival Holi on Sunday, also known as the festival of Spring.
Revelry and fun was the order of the day at Dart Family Park as kids and adults alike showered each other with coloured powders and danced to popular Indian movie songs.
For organiser Shilpa Tagalpallewar Gampawar and attendees, this year’s event was extra special. At this time last year, Cayman was shuttered due to government restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the religious event could not be celebrated.
Back home in India, she pointed out, they are in lockdown and cannot enjoy the festival this year.
She wants to use this year’s festival to send a message.
“I wanted to organise this year because I was so curious to show them [in India] that if you follow your government restrictions and all protocols… you can enjoy your life”, she said.
The Holi festival signifies the triumph of good over evil and celebrates the love of Hindu deities Lord Krishna and Radha. It also celebrates the beauty of spring blossoms.
Rakesh Baxani, fellow member of the Indian community group, said the event also provides an opportunity to teach kids growing up in Cayman about traditions back in India.
“We are very grateful to be in Cayman in an atmosphere where we can go out and do stuff like this, especially in a time like now (when) most people are going back into lockdown,” he said.
“So we are blessed… we are actually blessed to be here, and we have a good Indian community that wants to celebrate. Especially, I love to celebrate because of my son, Sachin, I mean, kids like him. There are more kids like him who were born here out of India, they don’t know our culture,” he added.
The event also featured delicious Indian snacks and food.
Jamaican resident Ava Gardner and her friends said they were happy to be included in the event.
“It’s a lot of fun. I am here with my friends. We’re just taking the Sunday off and having fun,” she said.
“Everyone is just throwing powder and it just feels really nice… everyone is interacting”.
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