WIDOW HOLI [TOP100]
Widows in India no longer throw themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands. But life for them can still be hard. Vrindavan is known as "the city of widows".In the communities, a stigma of in auspiciousness is attached to the widow and they are not allowed to participate in family celebrations and functions.Indian widows participate in a celebration of the Holi festival in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh. In many parts of India widows are not allowed to celebrate Holi or participate in other festivals.As 'Holi hai' rent the air, amidst 1200 kgs of 'gulal' (coloured powder) and 1500 kilograms of rose and merry gold petals flying in the air, the widows, some shunned by their families and others who have chosen a life in the ashrams voluntarily, forgot all their pains, at least for that moment and broke the 400-year-old tradition and celebrated the festival within the precincts of the ancient Gopinath temple of Vrindaban
Sanghamitra Sarkar, India, Kalyani
