DuPage Senior Citizens celebrate Holi with colorful dance and music

Chicago, IL: Holi, the festival of colors was celebrated with dance, music and lots of colorful entertainment at Shahi banquets, North Avenue, Lombard IL.

The celebration featured three renowned artists of Chicagoland who brought variety of music and dance performances. Prachi Jaitly, Ishaan Ahmed and Pratibha Jairath sang and danced on famous Bollywood songs that forced the audience to get up and dance.

Prachi Jaitly danced on "Prem Ratan Dhan Payo", Pratibha Jairath performed on Piya Tose Naina Laage Re" and Ishaan Ahmed entertained with non-stop Bollywood songs.

Holi is a Hindu spring festival in India also known as the "festival of colors" or the "festival of love". The festival signifies the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, and mend broken relationships. It lasts for two days starting on the Full Moon day falling Hindu Calendar month of Falgun, which falls somewhere between the end of February and the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar. In recent years, the festival has spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colors. Holi is celebrated as a free-for-all carnival of colors, where participants play, chase and color each other with dry powder and colored water, with some carrying water guns and colored water-filled balloons for their water fight. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders. The frolic and fight with colors occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings.

Prachi Jaitly said, "Holi solemnizes the love of Radha and Krishna. The spraying of colored powders recalls the love dance of Lord Krishna and His devotees. The color, fun and frolic that accompanies the celebration of Holi is the witness to a feeling of oneness and sense of brotherhood. The festival brings home the spirit of cultural and social harmony."

Many distinguished guests graced the program. Some of the seniors who attended were Mir Hamed, Ali Khan, Anwar Khan, Pramod Khanderia and Saroj Khanderia, Syed Sayeed and Mrs. Atiya Sayeed, Abul Hasan, Gavor Moor, Dinesh Kapoor, Vipin Shah and Chndra Shah. Moneek Khan coordinated the entire program and thanked the performers for selflessly serving the community by spending their time and efforts to bring festive celebrations for the seniors