The festival of colours, Holi, is being celebrated with its true spirit. But before we get to the point, here’s a little something about Holi that holds great cultural significance – it is the day to end and rid oneself of past errors, to end conflicts by meeting others, a day to forget and forgive and an occasion to make new friends. Surf Excel tried to remind us of the festival’s true essence with a beautiful and sweet advertisement just before Holi, sadly, only to get contradicted and backlashed. Well, we say all’s well that ends well because things took a similar turn in Kerala only to get praised by all.
Recently, a picture has surfaced on social media from Holi celebrations at CPA College of Arts and Science in Kerala’s Malappuram district and it is going viral and being celebrated universally. The said photograph was, in fact, taken by accident and is basically the real-life version of the Surf Excel ad. And here it is:
Source: Facebook
It shows a group of students making a safe way for a fellow student who is trying to pass through unharmed.
According to the college’s management, students began playing Holi (around 4 pm) after their classes ended. It is then when Muhammed Suhail, a second-year Botany student, and his friend wearing white were on their way to exit the campus to go to a local mosque for dars (weekly lesson) at the nearby Valanchery mosque. “It was not possible for me to pass through the crowd without getting stained. Then one of the students, Ajith, took the initiative to move students and provided way for me“, Suhail told Times of India.
To recall the Surf Excel ad, a little girl takes the hit of all colour-filled water balloons in her colony so she can safely escort her friend, a Muslim boy, to a mosque without staining his white robes. Students are saying that the similarity between the ad and the moment captured in the college is just coincidental. “We are happy that social media is discussing the photo positively,” said Muhammed Shamnas, member of the student union at the college.
Mohammed Mahsooque, a second-year BBA student who clicked the photo, said that the photo was actually not planned. He told The News Minute, “I have seen the Surf Excel ad but it never occurred to me to take a picture like that. I was handling a DSLR, lent me by a friend. Suddenly, these two students emerged in white and said they wanted to go to the mosque, and so, not to sprinkle colours on them. Everyone stopped the celebrations and let them pass since there was only one way to reach the gate.”
This just made our day.
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