"Sufi Basant" Genda Phool Walk from Lodhi Gardens to Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah, Nizamuddin Basti > 1:30pm-4:30pm on 19th January 2010

In the Video Above : a short film by Yousuf Saeed.

Time : 1.30 pm - 4:30 pm

Entry : Free, For details and info, contact at : 41764054 / himanshu@redearthindia.com
It is requested that you wear yellow and brings ample Genda Phool. In case of dire emergency, white is the best alternative to Basanti. No Black please!
Genda Phool is available in many florist shops across the city. It can also be had from the following venues which are close to Lodhi Gardens : INA Market flower sellers; Sai Baba Mandir, Lodhi Road.

Meeting Place : Lodhi Gardens
Map : Lodhi Gardens at Google Maps

Destination : Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Dargah, Nizamuddin Basti
Map : Nizamuddin Dargah at Google Maps

Walk Details : Our basant walk of course, will be a genda phool walk. We invite you for our first genda phool public action and urge you to participate with us in this walk with plenty of GP. Introduction will be followed by collective walk towards Nizamuddin Dargah.
Genda Phool is available in three colours: yellow, orange (the most popular) and maroon. On the day of Basant, it is the first occasion for colour after a long and dull winter. Hence, this is a day for yellow, the first spring colour. The festivities thereafter follow a colour progression, from yellow to deeper yellows, oranges, reds, and a burst of colours that awaits us at Holi…
Hence, as far as possible please try and source yellow / basanti genda, there will be other opportunities in this beautiful season to play orange / narangi Gendas…Bring as much Genda as you can, bring basket loads…garlands….So we can dance with genda tokris on our head and take them to Khwaja ji like his beloved Amir Khusrau…! Basant Genda Phool!
Last year at Basant, we also started a tradition of gifting something yellow to each other. Participants are also welcome to bring other yellow things – simple and natural things (nothing plastic please) like lemons, melons, mustard flowers, and whatever yellow catches your fancy. These can be offered to Khwaja ji, or exchanged amongst participants as spring gifts.

Basant Panchami, originally a Hindu festival (falling on 20 January this year) has also been celebrated by Muslim and Sufis in India with great gusto. To experience this beautiful syncretic celebration of spring, we will walk to the Dargah of one of the most popular Sufi saints of India, Khwaja Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, where mustard flowers are offered and Amir Khusrau’s verses are sung, in honour of Khwaja ji, and the beautiful Indian spring.

To read more about the tradition of Sufi Basant, visit : www.chowk.com/articles/4136

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