Either you love Holi or you hate it, there’s nothing in between. It’s the favorite festival of those who like to celebrate it and the others just can’t stand it. We all have either experienced, seen or heard of instances when a group of people or even an individual have just forcefully thrown water balloons, colors or water at random people; which is awful. Yes, it is a festival and you have all the rights to celebrate and enjoy it but you have no right to bother people who are not into it. It’s not okay to play Holi with people who are just walking on the street to reach somewhere. There must be a reason they are not playing and you should definitely respect it. Apart from unethical, it’s now illegal to bother other people who do not want to get involved in your celebration and the punishments are pretty strict if you are found doing so. As per your offense, you might put behind bars for up to a year along with a penalty of Rs. 10,000 if you are caught throwing water balloons at or bothering other people in any way who are not interested. Also, you do need to follow every single traffic rule and you cannot just get away with it just because it’s a festival. 5000 police personnels will be keeping strict eye in every part of Kathmandu valley to make sure everything goes fine and no law is broken.

If you think this is an unnecessary step and the police should be focusing on more important issues; don’t forget that a number of cases of harassment and other illegal activities are reported every year during Holi. And this definitely doesn’t mean that you are not allowed to celebrate and enjoy the festival, you definitely can. You just have to make sure that you are not bothering people who are not interested. Happy Holi!

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