Celebrating Holi in Rishikesh: A Travel Break, a Color Fight, and a Bit of Beatles Vibe
- Rand Blimes
- May 12
- 5 min read
Looking for the Holi Grail of Travel Breaks
By the beginning of March, 2016, my family had been on on the road for eight months. We were having an absolutely amazing time in India, but it was time for a break. We needed a good place to hunker down and relax for a couple of weeks. Somewhere interesting, but not sightseeing-driven. We needed a place where everyone could do their own thing. Take walks. Read. Do some yoga. We needed some place with good access to food, maybe a little easily accessible nature. We needed a travel break.
And this travel break would span across the festival of Holi, one of two global celebrations I had promised to take my oldest daughter to. So, we needed our travel break to happen somewhere that would be a good place to celebrate Holi.
A (Brief and Colorful) Introduction to Holi
If India had to pick just one day to express its personality, it would probably be Holi. Holi is the Hindu festival of color, joy, and general mayhem—basically what happens when a religious holiday collides with a massive, nationwide color fight.
Rooted in ancient Hindu mythology, Holi marks the arrival of spring and celebrates the triumph of good over evil, particularly the story of Prahlad and Holika. But while the mythological foundation is dramatic and meaningful, modern Holi is more about celebration than solemn reflection.
Some towns, like Mathura and Vrindavan, are legendary for Holi celebrations, with days of dancing, music, and color runs. But those towns are also legendary for fights breaking out among practitioners, and for men out to grope anything female. Not the best for a family scene.
I spent a LOT of time online, looking for the best place for our family to safely get involved in the fun of Holi. In several of the big cities of the north, there were specific tourist events celebrating Holi. These events took place in an enclosed area and entailed tourists smearing color on each other.
Not for us. We wanted safe, not completely sanitized of any actual travel.
I considered heading to Nepal. From what I read online, it seemed that there were Holi celebrations in the major cities in Nepal. But I couldn’t be 100% sure. Maybe Nepal celebrated Holi. But there was a possibility we would find ourselves left out when the day came.
Eventually, I turned to Rishikesh.
Rishikesh: Where Ganges Meets Guitars
Rishikesh is where India goes to do yoga, cleanse its soul, and maybe bump into someone who looks suspiciously like they’ve been on a "spiritual journey" since 2003 . . . or maybe 1963. Set along the sacred Ganges River in the foothills of the Himalayas, Rishikesh is part holy city, part backpacker haven, part ashram hub.
The city shot to international fame in 1968 when the Beatles came here to study Transcendental Meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. And while they may have left early (George stayed longest—obviously), they took with them more than a few fantastic (sometime sitar-infused) songs. A story goes that one day, Paul was trying to meditate in the ashram, but the chattering of a blackbird kept interrupting him. This inspired him to write “Blackbird,” one of my all-time favorite songs.
These days, Rishikesh is a mix of chanting monks, dreadlocked travelers, and yoga instructors-in-training all strolling the river ghats, watching evening aarti ceremonies, or snapping selfies on the suspension bridge. It’s India with incense, meditation, and just a touch of rock ‘n’ roll history.
It fit everything we were looking for. A town catering to travelers in the foothills of the mighty Himalayas. And, while Rishikesh celebrated Holi, the reports I read online didn’t seem like it got too out of hand.
So we traded in our ukulele for a sitar and off we went.
Decompressing in Rishikesh
We arrived in Rishikesh after a long journey from Jaipur (train to Haridwar, a short bus ride to the Rishikesh station, a rickshaw ride to the edge of the city, and then a walk down—and then back up—many, many stairs).
We had about a week before Holi, so we just hung out. All of Rishikesh is vegetarian by law, but there are lots of places to eat. Indian food. Nepali food. Backpacker food. There was a great little pastry shop where we ate breakfast most mornings.
We sat on rocks in the Ganges and watched the sun set.
We all went to a yoga class (and my wife went every day).
I went out early in the mornings, wandering the streets listening to the White Album through my headphones.
When things got a little slow, we booked some whitewater rafting on the Ganges.
Rishikesh was the perfect place for us to unwind.
And then, it was time to get colorful.
Celebrating Holi in Rishikesh
The celebration happens at the full moon in March. Several days before the full moon, we started to see bags of technicolor powder popping up in all the shops.
We bought some.
We also made sure we had disposable clothing to wear for the color fight. And I tried to fashion some camera protection out of plastic bags and rubber bands.
Things really kick off with a bonfire the night before—Holika Dahan—symbolizing the burning away of bad spirits. A small mountain of flammable “stuff” was built in the middle of the main square in the city.
Music played.
There was dancing.
And a few eager souls brought out their bags of color-powder and tossed a bit around. But just a bit.
It was the next morning when things truly erupted. People poured into the streets armed with powdered dyes, water balloons, and squirt guns. Strangers would approach each other, smear handfuls of color on each other’s faces, and shout "Happy Holi!" with reckless joy. Everyone generally behaved like toddlers let loose in an arts-and-crafts store.
It was messy, it was chaotic, and it was unforgettable.
Like most things in India, Holi is not a spectator sport. You either dive in or you get flattened by a well-aimed water balloon from a rooftop.
The Indian Selfie on Colorful Steroids
We had become accustomed to the fact that wherever we went, Indian people often asked us to take a picture with them. Sometimes they ignored wonders to get pics with us.
Holi was no exception. Friendly people frequently asked us to pose for pics with them, often after adding to the growing symphony of colors on our faces.
It is always easy to make friends in India. It is especially easy during Holi.
And, for the record, we didn’t have any issues with anyone getting unreasonably touchy. Most colorful interactions that involved touching were focused on faces. Any color that got applied to our bodies was generally thrown. So . . . no groping issues whatsoever for us.
We had a truly happy Holi.
Because travel should involve as much local color as possible.
Comments