Holi is one festival best celebrated with family and the close ones. But, outstation students in Delhi University bunk going home to enjoy the festival of colours with their friends in the campus. This year, too, the students are all set to colour their friends green and red. Mansa Saxena, a student of LSR says, “Campus Holi is something not to be missed. Last year, I went home, but this year, I’ve stayed back to play with friends and juniors. I’ve heard campus Holi is cool.” DU Holi has many hues, a different one for every college.
Mud Holi
The campus grapevine has it that one could celebrate one of the best bhaang-wali Holi at St. Stephen’s college until a few years ago. Alas! “Bhang isn’t allowed anymore. But, we still have one of the best Holis. We dig a pit in the lawn, fill it with water and mud. Everyone is thrown in it,” says Arshad Muhammed, coordinator of the students’ union.
Holi Tree

“We have a tree in the VKRV Rao hostel, which we call Holi Tree. On the day of Holi, we not only colour each other but also tear each other’s clothes, mainly vests, because that’s what we wear on that day. And then the pieces of our clothes are thrown on the tree. That old, leaf-less tree gets to dress up on that day. I am not even a hosteller here, but I come here to play with my friends,” says Naveen, a post graduate DU student, adding that the Holi tree used to be much more popular a few years ago.
Rag and Tag Holi
Those who stay in private hostels have their own ways of playing Holi. Purnima Sharma, a student of PGDAV College, who stays in a private hostel in Hudson Lines, says, “Holi with friends is fab! I don’t even go back home to Rohtak just so I can have a blast here. So, we divide ourselves in teams and indulge in some silly competitions. The winning team gets to colour the losers as much as they want. The losing team can’t touch the winning team and they can only run and hide.”
Nita Sharma, another paying guest, says, “We go around pulling out girls out of their rooms and throw buckets of water, especially on the hoity-toity ones. We also fight with balloons .”
An adventurous Holi
Boys of SGND Khalsa College have been trying to trick the authorities to play Holi in classrooms. “We want to play Holi in our classrooms, so we have been getting colours to classes for a few days now. But roz hamare bag check ho rahe hai, aur teachers saare colours nikal kar phek dete hai. But now it is a challenge. Kuchch na kuch jugaad toh nikalngey and aaj chahe diwar taapni pade, par class mei khel ke ayenge,” says Harsh Gupta (name changed), a third year student.