Adding fl avours to the festival of colours

NAVI MUMBAI: Communities in Navi Mumbai celebrated the festival of colours in their own traditional way.

Most communities celebrated Holikadahan on Wednesday night. For those from Bihar, Holi is incomplete without its dose of thandai ( a mixture of milk, dry fruits, rose petals and fennel seeds) and kheer-malpuas.

“In our n at ive place, preparations begin a week ago for Holi,” said Anuja Tiwari, Kharghar resident.

Members of the Bengali community marked the fest in their own traditional way. “Dolyatra ( Holi) is a big celebration in West Bengal and we try to keep the tradition alive. We had our traditional Bengali cuisine like khichudi, puri-alu dum and payesh,” said Srijeeta Ghosh, resident of Sanpada.

Sindhis prepared a sweet dish called ‘ Ghear’, a type of fried food stuff soaked in hot liquid sugar. “On the eve of Holi, Sindhi women light the bonfire and roast a special kind of sweet bread called the ‘mithi roti’ in it,” said Kalpana Sadhwani, resident of Kopar Khairane.