Half day Holiday on 08 October, 2009

Today the University has declared half day in all the colleges under it, including affiliate ones. This holiday has been declared on the account of "Phool Walon ki Sair" in Delhi. It is no surprise that student would be happy with this news. This order was released by the University on its website today in the morning, it was a bit late but no one would complain.

Here is a little background on Phool Walon Ki Sair.

The festival of Phool Walon Ki Sair is celebrated by the flowers sellers of Delhi with great enthusiasm. It is a three-day festival, generally held in the month of October in the region of Mehrauli, Delhi. A festival celebrated by both Hindus and Muslims alike, this secular festival involves a procession decorated with flowers to the shrine of Devi Jog Maya and the dargah of Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki. Phool Walon-ki-Sair is celebrated over three days where the flower sellers pray for a better flower season in the coming year.

The origins behind the Phool Walon-ki-Sair Festival are quite old. The festival came into being when the grieving queen of Akbar Shah 11 took a vow that if her son, who was exiled to Allahbad by the British was allowed to return to Delhi, she would make an offering of a four-poster flower bed at the holy shrine of Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki at Mehrauli. When the British finally relented after a while, the queen carried out her promise by creating an exquisite flower canopy to which the local flower sellers added an intricate flower pankha at their own cost which were then carried in a huge procession to the saint's tomb.

From then the tradition had evolved to making the procession at both the dargah as well as the nearby shrine of Devi Jog Maya. The three-day festival of Phool Walon-ki-Sair sees floral tributes being placed at these two sacred sites. There is all-pervading ambience of fun and merriment what with qawwalis, and kathak being performed on the streets. Fire dancers also take the streets during the procession and add a mystic allure to the proceedings. One can see people holding decorative flower pankhas as they march towards these two holy places.

Text Courtesy: A Journey to India.
Image Courtesy: Phool Waalon Ki Sair