March 6: Holi, the festival of colours, has started to be celebrated in a more decent way in recent years. Until some years back, young women would stop venturing out in the streets of Kathmandu nearly a week before the festival as they were often the targets of some unruly youths hurling balloons filled with coloured water.    
Unsuspecting women walking on the street were hurled with water from roof tops. Some rowdy revelers even went to the extent of smearing colours on the faces of other people against their will. Reports of pedestrians being thrown dirty water, being smeared with black paint etc were also frequent.    
It was unsafe for them to go out during the festival. The women who went out for some urgent work used to come home drenched.    
But this uncivilized trend is becoming a thing of the past. But still there are some people who resort to these kinds of aberrant practices in the name of celebrating the festival of colours. Nepal Police have said such elements would be brought to book. Police said so far they have not received any complaint of people throwing water or water-filled balloons and smearing colour powder on anyone against their will.    
However, groups of people especially youths, could be seen celebrating the festival amongst their friends and families in decent way.     
This year the festival is observed in the hill and mountainous districts today while it will be celebrated in the Tarai-Madhes districts tomorrow. 

Basantapur sees festivity since morning    
People had gathered at Basantapur Durbar Square in Kathmandu since today morning for the traditional Holi celebrations. A ritualistic wooden pole with tufts of colourful strips of cloths known as 'chir' on its top end that was installed in the Basantapur Durbar Square a week back heralding the start of the Phagu (Holi) festival is to be pulled down tonight. It is taken to Tundikhel amidst the playing of folk musical instruments and burnt. The ashes of the 'chir' are considered as talisman and people scramble for getting hold of the ashes. They put tika mark of this ash on their forehead in the belief that it drives away evil and protects from bad omen.   

 27K security personnel mobilised    
Nepal Police has said 27,000 police personnel have been mobilised throughout the country for maintaining law and order during the Holi festival this year. This number is apart from those personnel mobilised for regular peace keeping, said Deputy Inspector General Poshraj Pokharel, the spokesman for the Nepal Police.    
According to him, no untoward incidents have been reported in course of the festival throughout the country so far today. Security has been beefed up in the big cities across the country, including Kathmandu.    
Police are conducting checking at more than 66 places, apart from the places of regular security checks, in the federal capital. -- RSS