Holi being celebrated by the South Asian community in the Bay Area. (Photo: Ritu Maheshwari)

Fremont, CA: Festival of Globe (FOG), Federation of Indo-Americans (FIA) of Northern California, and Fremont Hindu Temple celebrated their 41st Holi festival on a grand scale. Building on previous successes and huge response, this year’s FOG Holi – “Festival of Colors” was celebrated on Saturday, March 4th at Irvington High School in Fremont, California. Despite rain forecast, thousands of community members enjoyed the Holi filled with colors, music, dancing, and revelry.

They celebrated Festival of Colors by soaking themselves in rainbow of colors and non-stop dancing to the energizing Holi songs by DJ.  Dr. Romesh Japra, FOG Founder said, “FOG Holi has over the years played an important role in keeping our culture alive and inculcating pious values in our youngsters. It represents victory of good over evil. With this convenient location, Holi was so much more enjoyable experience for the families and friends.”

It was an occasion to see dignitaries like Assembly-member, Alex Lee, Fremont Mayor, Lily Mei, Fremont Council-member,Raj Salwan, Sunnyvale Mayor, Larry Klein, Fremont Chief of Police, Shawn Washington, Sunnyvale Council-member, Murali Srinivasan, and Dublin Council-member, Kashef Qaadri, mingle and play Holi with the crowds. Frequent Flash Mob dances by Bollywood Dance Connection ensured that everyone was enjoying and dancing to the hilt.

This year’s Holi featured a colorful Parade involving many community organizations and dance groups. Led by an Indian Dhol, Parade included people dancing with friends and family. It was difficult to recognize faces as they were all covered in multitude of colors. The entire gathering morphed into a huge family with people applying color to each other and making friends. It was also an opportune time to renew and make new friendships. People from all over California came to participate in the festivities.

Holi is a great festive occasion to celebrate and wish each other and get inundated with a rainbow of colors. In order to reduce pollution, skin irritations and make the festival environment friendly, Holi featured biodegradable and skin-friendly colors.

Fremont Mayor Lily Mei said, “We are really proud that Holi festival is being celebrated in Fremont this year. Holi represents victory of Good over Evil and is a great opportunity for community to come together.”