Despite a string of soggy weekends in the San Francisco Bay Area in April, the last Sunday of the month saw Basant springing out in colourful confetti abandon at the gracious home of Trishla Jain and Satyan Gajwani. It was a veritable joy factory as the West Coast’s best and brightest of all ages gathered to celebrate Holi, in essence and spirit, with nach-gaana, mazaa-masti and, of course, the chatpata chaat delights that go with it. Exclusive Pics from the spring party: Colours, Confetti and Camaraderie
The festivities spanned three generations, and true to the hosts’ beliefs, the 350 invitees were united by the quality of their hearts rather than the conventional totems of Silicon Valley suitability. As Aditya Agarwal, their friend and founder of South Park Commons, put it, “There’s a lot of Holi events in the Bay Area, but it’s hard to capture the real essence of Holi, from India. Trishla and Satyan do it better than anyone else.”
Reimagining the choreographed chaos of the family’s epic annual New Delhi Holi parties in the heart of Silicon Valley had its own challenge and charm. But they pulled it off, for the third time, with panache. Amid fun, flowers and multihued confetti galore, the eclectic gathering of the powerful and the passionate, the legends and whizkids, bonded as a community, with desi beats and swadeshi eats, while artful crafts kept kids in the Holi spirit too.
As Aarthi Belani, M&A partner, Baker McKenzie, pointed out, “The designer Ingrid Fetell Lee talks about how colour in a very primal way is a sign of life, of energy and abundance, and how we also respond to round objects – probably because sharp angles are more likely to signal danger. So we are deeply hardwired to feel joy upon seeing confetti.” Needless to add, even days after the party, she is still finding confetti on herself....
That joyful, gloriously sunny Sunday afternoon, the DJ kept grownups jiving to classic Bollywood numbers that all global Indians know the words to, as well as hits from Michael Jackson to Ed Sheeran. And the kids decorated fresh potted marigolds, applied hot press stickers to pencil bags and bucket hats, decorated Holi cookies with rainbow icing, and created jewellery with dried flowers, acrylic moulds and resin.
Guests were served thaals of lip-smacking street food and pakoras just like at the Holi parties thrown by the Jain family back in the day in New Delhi. But the biggest hit was the shavedice truck serving supercool spring drizzles ranging from passionfruit to cotton candy. Colour, confetti, chaat, chuski, it was a hella fun party at Trishla and Satyan’s, the most joyful start ever to spring in the Bay Area fersure.
It was impossible for guests not to imbibe the joyous Holi spirit. Kashmira Love, Montessori expert and master teacher, observed that the spring celebration had “a positive energy that we need so badly right now. It’s so very needed, to bring parents’ and kids vibrations high, and make the world a happier and better place.” No wonder one guest commented, confetti-on-cheek, “Holi and Diwali are so much better than Christmas. Should I write to Santa and let him know?”
Exclusive Pics from the spring party: Colours, Confetti and Camaraderie
