Fervour, enthusiasm mark Holi celebrations across the country

New Delhi, Mar 15 (UNI) The festival of colours, Holi, was celebrated today with traditional pomp and gaiety throughout the country.

President A P J Abdul Kalam chose to celebrate the festival with school boys and girls at Rashtrapati Bhavan and dedicated a newly composed poem to them.

After receiving greetings from the children who were from schools in and around the capital, Dr Kalam presented each one of them with a photograph of roses from the Mughal Gardens, captioned with a poem written by him.

In his message to the nation yesterday, Dr Kalam extended his greetings and best wishes to all in India and abroad.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, however, did not celebrate Holi and did not receive any holi revellers at his residence.

Greeting people on the eve of Holi, Dr Singh said the festival of colours reminds the nation of the vibrant colours of its multi-cultural society and diversity.

''Holi provides an opportunity to forge new bonds of fellow feeling among our citizens,'' the Prime Minister said in his message.

In the national capital, the festival was celebrated with great fervour and enthusiam.

Streets were bathed with colours as groups of people resembling rainbows met friends and relatives, exchanging greetings and sweets, smearing 'gulal' at each other.

Delhi Police has made special security arrangements for the festival and also ensured that there were no law and order problems.

Reports from Mumbai say the festival of colours symbolising victory of the good over the evil was celebrated by people of ages and cutting across all sections of the society in the financial capital.

Bollywood and television personalities too joined the festivities by organising small get-togethers. But, the Holi bashes associated with late Raj Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan and Subhash Ghai were missing.

Police had maintained tight ''bandobast''at railway stations and bus stops to keep vigil on miscreants.

As per reports from Varanasi, the holy city leaving behind the tragic events of the March 7 twin balsts plunged into a pool of seamless colours on the occasion.

The entire holy city wore a colourful look with residents and foreign tourists alike, imbued with the festive spirit.

The festive fervour was further elevated by Bhojpuri songs being played by the blaring loudspeakers and the intoxication of 'Bhang', for those who preferred it.

However, a high security alert has been sounded in 11 districts of eastern Uttar Pradesh in view of Holi, particularly after the twin blasts in Varanasi.

More UNI Team MA BD1934