Ekta Rayani
NHSF Westminster President
12 universities, 7 colours, 1 day!
This year NHSF Westminster was proud to be a part of one of the biggest Holi events our London Zone Parivar has ever seen. Many held the idea that this would not be able to happen, however, we did exactly the opposite.
NHSF Westminster has been hosting Holi since 2010. We are known to have one of the best Holi events in the country, and this year it became even better. Collaborating with NHSF (UK) chapters from BPP, Brunel, City, Greenwich, Hertfordshire, Kingston, London South Bank, Queen Mary, St. Georges, SOAS and Roehampton we were able to bring 12 out of the 16 universities in London together for this spectacular event.
Holi is celebrated as it is a festival celebrating the story of Prahlad defeating Holika through his faith in Lord Vishnu. The moral of the story is that good always wins over evil, and that those who seek to torment the faithful will be destroyed. We celebrate this by throwing colour and at Northwick Park on Saturday 14th March we did just that!
The idea began in January that NHSF Westminster wanted to create a Holi event to remember in London Zone, so we approached presidents and planned with them to make the event bigger and better this year. Time flew by to March 14th and by then the colours had arrived, the presidents were well prepared and many were ready to celebrate the wonderful festival. The money box was stocked with loads of change and the plastic cups ready for the day ahead. Early Saturday morning, we began setting up our tables with buckets of colour hoping it would last the four hours, however 30kg of powdered paint was not enough for us! The weather was on our side with no showers and plenty of sun. The idea of throwing colours is a new concept to many people so it brought huge crowds from all sorts of cultures. Over 200 people came throughout the day, each leaving with a face full of colour. We could feel the excitement from everyone. As the colour started running out, we decided to add water to the cups, to prolong the fun. But after having a bucket of coloured water thrown on me, I think that may have been a bad idea! Nevertheless it was Holi so I did not mind and it sure was a moment to remember.
This year NHSF Westminster made history in London Zone by having the biggest Holi event ever! We hope that our future committees are able to bring more universities together for an even bigger Holi event in the upcoming years!