By IANS,
Kolkata : West Bengal Sunday celebrated the festival of colours, Holi, or Dol Yatra as it is called in the state, with songs, dances and sweets.
This is a festival of fun where more than religious rituals people indulge in throwing colours at one another. As the day progresses, youngsters move around in groups, hurling water balloons and smearing coloured powder at one another.
The residents placed idols of Radha-Krishna on decorated palanquins and carried them. They also offered special prayers in their houses to Radha-Krishna on this special day of Dol Purnima (Dol is celebrated on a full moon day).
People danced, sang songs and smeared each other with colour.
Security was tightened across the city on this occasion. “An additional 5,000 police officers are deployed for Holi,” Joint Commissioner of Police Jawed Shamim told IANS.
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) at its global headquarters at Mayapur in Nadia district observed the day as the birth anniversary of 16th century Vaishnav saint and social reformer Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Thousands of people from within the country and abroad assembled at Santiniketan, about 180 km from here, to celebrate Basanta Utsav in the campus of the Visva Bharati university presenting a picture of gaiety.