Celebrations at DuPont Circle this year. / Roshn Marwah

The Indian diaspora has globalized Indian traditions, customs, and festivals. Indian songs, dances, and references are a part of mainstream culture around the world. 

A generation ago, Indian culture was largely missing or widely misrepresented in American culture but now statements like “my public middle school is getting the day off for Diwali” don’t even sound surprising.

Globalization of culture is obvious and clearly explainable at the macro level, but at the individual level it is experienced in small surprising pops that represent our experience of the world around us. 

My first vivid memory of Holi is attending the Sunnyvale temple’s festivities as family. I remember the familial happiness, the sting of getting color in your mouth and eyes, the joy of in turn inflicting that sting on your friends, and the attempts to cover the seats of the car in black garbage bags for the ride home. Pops of experience like this teach children the love, welcoming nature, and kinship that are pour through Indian culture and community. 

Fast forward to high school where I remember waking up Holi morning, one of my Indian friends from school had crashed on the couch the night before. Unfortunately, Holi celebrations were not part of our plan for the day as we sleepy crawled into his car and left for an SAT prep class. As we flew down the highway rap music blaring yelling about the Raiders we turned to our right to see every American teenage boy’s favorite sight, a group of attractive girls our age riding next to us looking out their window. As everybody exchanged looks something became very clear to my friend and I, this group of 4 white American teenage girls were on their way to Stanford Holi while we were headed to an SAT prep class! This pop was my first exposure to how Holi was entrancing people outside of the Indian community with the party, community, and joy I had first experienced at the temple. 

This brings me to the Indian Embassy’s 2025 Holi Festival in DuPont Circle. The festivities started at noon in the middle of Washington DC’s DuPont Circle, a public park in the middle of the city. Loud speakers playing the latest songs ushered large crowds towards the stage to dance, throw color, and experience Holi. Amongst the crowd were eager attendees as well as passerby’s being sucked in by the joyous celebration of the end of DC’s very cold winter. 

The day was a celebration of Indian culture and traditions ranging from Kathakali dancers to children’s meticulously choreographed dance routines. DJ Pandu filled the park with jams while dance instructors on stage helped the crowd collectively move to the music. 

The party eventually moved from the centrally located park to into front of the Ven Hotel. Immediately massive lines formed in front of the stands selling color as DJ Pandu set up in front of the entrance. Quickly the driveway was turned into a color rave packed with people and levity much to the joy of the people seated inside the hotels onlooking restaurant. As I watched people run from their full plates to the hotel’s window to snap pictures of the color filled festivities below I realized the global nature of the people around me experiencing Holi for the first time. 

“DuPont Circle is a unique neighborhood with 40 embassies, and we are glad to showcase India” said Patrick Kain, Chair of the DuPont circle BID. 

My pop this year came when I reflected on the group I attended Holi with.  I attended the DuPont Holi with Christina, an Italian-American girl born and raised in DC, her best friend Hannah, a half-American, half-Serbian girl, and Hannah’s boyfriend a born and raised Delhi boy who is now living in Dubai. Hannah and her boyfriend “TJ” met at their friend’s wedding in Delhi and the couple now takes turns traveling back and forth between Delhi and DC to meet each other. Watching them take in the colors, music, and energy was both something new and something reminiscent of how Holi had always felt. 

Four hours of dancing and throwing color later the group was exhausted as the four of us stepped into a local bar filed with shamrocks and patrons celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. The bartender looked at us covered head to toe and colored and said “oh did you guys go to that Holi thing, what is that?” Maybe we will see him there next year.

Washington DC Holi 2025 was a truly full of life, liberty, and the pursuit of Spring.