Wounded N-E Delhi Sees Holi As Healer

Putting behind terrible memories of the riots, communities coming together to celebrate the festival of colours amid ruins

- Gulam Jeelani

Naresh Chand, 68, is beginning to pick up the pieces in his ransacked three-storey house in Phase 6 of Shiv Vihar, one of the worst-affected neighborhoods during the recent riots in North East Delhi.

Two blocks away from his house, standing next to a religious structure, a group of women are setting up pieces of wood for ‘Holika Dahan’ meant to be set afire the night before Holi.

People from both communities have been visiting Chand and asking him about his Holi plans. “The rioters came and left. And we have to leave the bad memories behind, especially when the festival is upon us,” said Chand, a grocery-store owner, who lived with his wife, two sons and their wives at his house until February 25 when the rioters barged in and he was forced to shift to a relative’s place at Karawal Nagar.

His son Umakant Chand, 29, is also optimistic about restoration of normal ties. “We can only hope for a better tomorrow,” said Umakant, who works with the document verification section of a private firm. “Our grief will never go away and the house will take years to be rebuilt. But the fact that Holi is around has filled our hearts with hope for harmony,” he said.

As the scarred streets of NorthEast Delhi limp back to normalcy in the aftermath of the violence that left 53 dead and hundreds injured, people from both communities are looking forward to the festival of colours to wash away the trust deficit.