Holi cow! It is all about fun and music

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Growing from strength to strength with every passing edition, the Holi Cow festival’s offering this year shows why it’s called an amalgamation of the Woodstock Festival of ’69 and Glastonbury festivals. Although officially only in its third year, HC began as a small, underground festival to celebrate Holi with music and art some five years back.
And now if all the slated acts turn up then it could give any noted festival in the country a run for its money.
Those who have been a part of it, claim it’s the best Holi celebration they’ve ever seen and those who haven’t, repent having missed it when they see the colourful graffiti appear in post-Holi editions of the city’s glossies. Raul Chandra, curator of the festival, avers, “It began with a bunch of friends and artistes, who had a common idea of creating an eco-system for artistes and art lovers wanting to celebrate and express their love and passion without commercial compulsions. That is the reason why most artistes volunteer to perform every year without any commercial fees.”
Seconds musician Suchet Malhotra, “We, as professional musicians and artistes, work 364 days a year. But it is only on this one day when we want to play for ourselves, for our friends, for strangers, for our art, for our gurus, without having to think of boundaries or compulsions.”
The strong bonds that Holi can forge shows in the voices of participating artistes, who stop at nothing when praising the colourful bash. Sarabjit of the rock band, Menwhopause, says, “It brings together our friends and friends’ friends on one day when we all want to roll into one big ball of colour.” And Chintan Kalra of Parikrama, adds, says, “It is the utopia of our generation. Love, peace, music, joy, free expression, positive vibes, everything that our world deserves to have.”
The month-long event which leads up to the festival this time, features an art wall by designer Nitin Bal Chauhan, Nida Mehmood and Himanshu Shani who are displaying their artistic prowess in the form of a graffiti, a photograph exhibition centred around colours, a parade of Bullet bikers, video art, poetry and theatre.
The Holi Cow 2011 will be held on March 20 at the Holi Cow Barn, Chattarpur Farm