The day before their event, Indus advised participants to pack minimal belongings and wear white, expendable clothing. By the end of the Indus’ Holi celebration in Little Acorn Park on April 13, participants’ clothing was coated in bright pink, green and blue powder for the annual festival of colors. The festival, rooted in Hindu culture and mythology, celebrates the emergence of spring, love and new life.  

Friends laughed and raced around the field, running to paint each other with colors. Bryce Hutchins / Daily Nexus

Indus is a South Asian student cultural and social organization at UC Santa Barbara. They host the Holi event every year, bringing hundreds of students together for an afternoon of live music, dancing and celebration. The Isla Vista Recreation & Park District (IVRPD) and the Isla Vista Community Relations Committee aided in opening the park space for the crowds, along with providing electricity to amplify the live music and water to power the Slip ‘N Slide. 

Holi is widely-celebrated in India and Nepal primarily, with the most widely celebrated festivals taking place in cities like Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. Holi has also grown to be recognized by Indian communities across the globe, from other Asian regions to the Western world. One of Holi’s most popular traditions involves participants dressed in white gathering in the streets to play Holi, or covering one another in colored powder.  

The powder represents positive facets of life. Pink, blue and green, for example, generally represent joy, spirituality and life and prosperity, respectively. The festival originates from Indian mythology and history, primarily inspired by the Hindu deity Lord Krishna, who demonstrated fun and affection by covering his wife Radha and his companions, the gopis, in playful colors.

Indus provided powders for throwing. With water slides, inflatable sumo wrestling tubes and water guns, the event got wet too.

After Indus organizers set up tables with stacks of cardboard boxes full of color powder and cases of water bottles to keep attendees hydrated, students and I.V. residents dressed in white began filing in. Friends laughed and raced around the field, running to paint each other with colors. Attendees launched themselves down the waterslide, spraying one another with their water guns. Meanwhile, DJ Shay performed a curated mix of popular American and classic South Asian hits.

To Indus board member and first-year economics major Riya Mathur, who has celebrated Holi before, Indus’ event provided a unique take on the traditional celebration.

“I definitely think it’s not just like the Holi in my hometown, but I do like that I.V. and Indus added these additional parts like the sumo balls, which I have not seen at any Holi celebration before, or the Slip ‘N Slide. And the water guns are a good college twist,” Mathur said.

Mathur also pointed out how the high energy of the Holi celebration was built on a mix of modern and traditional elements.

“I think it’s just the festivity and just the brightness and the mix of traditional and modern,” Mathur said. “I love that the soundtrack is kind of more modern but combined with the Dhol, or the drum, over there.” 

Indus provided powders for throwing. Bryce Hutchins / Daily Nexus

Accompanying DJ Shay was third-year psychological & brain sciences and film and media studies double major Alex Yong, playing the dhol, a double-headed drum played at many South Asian events and celebrations. The dhol combines low and high-pitched tones to create rhythms suited for dancing and community events. Throughout the event, Yong moved throughout the crowd while playing the instrument. 

“My job is to try and match [DJ Shay’s] beat but give it traditional Indian flavor. If he’s going to do a really huge beat switch, he’s going to let me know, but otherwise, I just match the beat and make it one of my own,” Yong said.

Yong described the Holi celebration as different from other events in I.V. but similar to community-centered events. 

“This is one of those moments where it’s not really a party, it’s more like a celebration of being alive, and you don’t see that as much in I.V. culture, like in party culture. But I feel like it is huge in I.V. culture: a sense of community,” Yong said.

In addition to curating a vibrant atmosphere, Indus organizers also made efforts to keep their Holi celebration an inclusive and safe place for students and community members by opening the event to the community regardless of cultural background and ensuring attendees stayed hydrated. Indus board member and third-year psychological & brain sciences major Rahul Unni Aravindakshan expressed gratitude to organizations like the IVRPD that collaborated on the event.

“All our events are open, but this is the most centrally located in I.V., and we’ve seen that the community is super welcoming. Like IVRPD — we just really appreciate the community for coming together and involving themselves in Holi even if they’re not familiar with South Asian culture. Indus puts a lot of effort into making Holi accessible to everybody,” Aravindakshan said.

A version of this article appeared on p. 3 of the Apr. 17, 2025 edition of the Daily Nexus.