I celebrated Holi in three rounds this year, says Isha Koppikar Narang – Times of India

After celebrating Holi with a handful of people at her residence in the last two years, Isha Koppikar Narang is making the most of the festival of colours today. The day began with playing Holi with her seven-year-old daughter Rianna, her niece and their friends and the party continued at her parents’ residence in Worli. She shares, “Holi will be celebrated in three rounds this year. The first round was at my residence with the kids and my staff. We played with colours in the garden. At the moment, I am at my parents’ residence in Worli. We are celebrating the festival with other residents of the society. We had lunch together. It was nice to meet people, whom you couldn’t meet for the last two years. I plan to meet a few friends in the evening to celebrate Holi with them. It’s not that I didn’t celebrate Holi in the last two years, but it was strictly at home and amidst a lot of restrictions. So, it feels free to be able to step out and celebrate the festival with people. I hope this is the end of the pandemic and it stays that way and we don’t have to face such hard times again.”

The actress says that Holi is her favourite festival and has beautiful memories associated with it. She says, “I lived in a colony of about eight-nine buildings and we were around 40 kids. All of us played Holi together. We would get beautiful colours and gather around a huge drum of cold water. Every new entry, who came to play Holi with us, would be immersed in that drum of water. That’s how close we could get to celebrating Holi the way it ought to be played. Living together in a community setup is a beautiful thing. It teaches you a lot about unity in diversity and how we should stand for each other. All the festivals are celebrated the way they are meant to be when you live in such a setup and Holi has been no exception.”

Taking a jog down memory lane, she says, “After we would get tired of playing Holi, we feasted on amazing food prepared by our mothers. We would be treated to jalebis, rabdi, basundi, poori, and halwa. I have grown up with those memories – of bonhomie and eating together.
Maine bachpan se iss festival
ka poora lutf uthaaya hai. That’s exactly what I try to teach Rianna — celebrate every festival to the fullest.”

And for her, Holi is incomplete without gulal and water. She says, “Playing with flowers is not my style of celebrating Holi. It has to be played with gulal and water (smiles). I use organic colours. Holi should be celebrated the way it’s meant to be celebrated with gulal, water mixed with colours and water balloons.”