By Kosalan Kathiramalanathan
On April 1 Gould Street lit up with colourful powder as Ryerson students celebrated the South Asian festival, Holi.
Also known as the Festival of Colours, it was the third year the event was held, led by the Ryerson Indian Student Association (RISA). The co-president Jay Mehta described the celebrations “as a festival for spring.”
RISA and seven other Ryerson student groups along with student groups from the University of Toronto organized the event.
This year’s event was pushed back a week due to the rain and Mehta said this was a setback but that today was their backup date. He also discussed the positive things about organizing the event, specifically the collaboration with U of T.
“It was the first year we worked with U of T,” Mehta said. “Things worked much easier with them because all the duties got split up.”
“[U of T] took over the marketing with the Scarborough region and we focused on the downtown region.”
Mehta said the high turn out at the event was also from the collaboration. The event saw hundreds of students on Gould Street enjoy the festivities, free food and a dance performance by the South Asian Alliance (SAA). According to the event page, over 250 pounds of colour was purchased and many students bringing their own.
“I think it’s really cool Ryerson is doing this,” said Ashin Khan, a member of the SAA and one of the dancers at the event. “It was a really big celebration and it was cool to see other ethnicities joining in.”
Mehta also voiced a similar sentiment when discussing future plans. “My only vision and goal for RISA is to have events where people can unite together and enjoy,” he said.
Third-year Ryerson student, Lamees Wajahat who attended the event last year, was impressed with how the festivities have grown. “Holi was so much fun. Ryerson really outdid itself this year,” she said. “[It’s] so worth washing off the colour.”
The event ended with a dance and the celebrations continued into the night with karaoke.
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