Holi colours the lives of Vrindavan widows

About 1000 widows, shunning the shackles of social stigma, played Holi with colours and gulal at Meera Sahabhagini Ashram here on Friday. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

It was for the first time that the widows gathered in such a large number to play Holi with gulal and water colour at the 200-year-old Ashram. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

Countering the age-old social evil of widowhood, several widows have taken shelter in this holy city. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

It was a remarkable sight when the widows, mostly in the 70s and 80s, stooping low with age, danced and splashed gulal and gallons of water colours on each other. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

Last year, these widows had played Holi with flower petals. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

The initiative was taken by Sulabh International, which is working for improving the condition of the widows and bringing them to the mainstream besides ensuring their social assimilation. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

The organisation looks after a thousand widows living in five ashrams here. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

Sulabh Foundation has appointed teachers to teach English and Hindi to widows. “We also give them employment. They make cloth for covering gods and goddesses in temples. They feel proud as they were not even allowed inside temples earlier. We are bringing a change,” Pathak says. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform Movement, says, “These women have been treated badly. The celebration was a way of telling them they are one of us. They can wear coloured clothes, eat what they want. The ones who want to remarry can. We are giving them education so that they can be employed. It is for their uplift. Some have accepted it well, some are trying.” (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

(IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

(IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

(IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

(IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

(IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

(IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)