Hollywood's Scarlett plays Holi with UP's Dalits

Varanasi, Feb 25 (UNI) It was a monumental Holi for Sanori -- a nonedescript hamlet in the neighbouring Ghazipur district -- which predated the festival of colours only for Hollywood beauty Scarlett Johansson.

Recently voted 'Sexiest Global Celebrity' by Playboy magazine, the BAFTA winner star spent six hours enjoying the rustic life in the backwaters of Uttar Pradesh on February 22, by savouring the festival of colours, spicy cuisine and earthy music rendered by the ruralfolks to the peerless guest.

In the country to support pro-poor initiatives of international aid agency Oxfam, 'The Horse Whisperer' star trouped to Ghazipur early on February 22 as part of an eight-member team to meet the Dalit girls working hard to make a name for themselves in the casteist cauldron of East UP.

Attired in a shirt-dirty coloured jeans and long boots, the 22-year-old beauty first met the Dalit girls at the Purvanchal Dalit Balika School in Revasara, which has been ushering quality primary education with Oxfam's assistance since 2000.

''The jovial star first appeared an unwelcomed guest in one of the classes of the school but later made friends with all the girls who capped her visit with a small cultural function,'' Director of Purvanchal Rural Development and Training Institute -- the school's parent body -- Kapil Dev told UNI.

Skipping the fleet of snazzy cars, the sultry New Yorker then embarked on a rickety tonga to gallop into Dalit dominated Sanori through picture-perfect mustard fields and mangroves bathing in the scent of newly acquired mango flowering.

With the scorching sun over her head, the 'Matchpoint' and 'Black Dahlia' siren, greeting the villagers with signature 'Namaste' sneaked into a mud dwelling, where mouth-watering lunch in form of 'Chuda-Dahi,' 'Gur,' 'Ghooghni' and the staple Roti-Tarkari awaited her.

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