Fifty-year-old Hira Basnet and her two grandsons aged 11 and nine were among the sea of colourful faces celebrating Holi, the Hindu festival of colour and celebration of the triumph of good over evil, at Basantapur Durbar Square on Thursday.

“I came here to be a part of the festivities,” said Basnet, a retired government officer. “The festival reminds me of the times when I used to accompany my father to Basantapur every Holi as a young girl.”

This year she has come to Basantapur to reminisce about her time with her father who passed away two years ago with Covid-related complications.

The pandemic had confined Basnet inside her home for more than two years; she felt cut off from the world, she says. “I am glad I came here today. I feel happy being among the cheerful people,” said Basnet, taking her two grandsons by their hands.

Basnet, a resident of Baneshwar, was infected with Covid-19 twice during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. She got infected again during the third wave last year. “When the pandemic was peaking, I had given up but coming here today made me realise that I am still hopeful of the days to come.”

The grandsons with matching white t-shirts and their grandmother walked into the crowd of people smeared with Holi colours.

For 21-year-old Prasant Prasain, an engineering student from Thapathali, celebrating Holi this year meant hanging out with all of his friends after two years of Covid restrictions.

“My parents didn’t allow me to participate in festivities with my friends because the risk of getting infected with Covid-19 was high,” said Prasain. “It was suffocating to stay inside all the time with no permission to socialise. But today I had so much fun with my friends that I will remember this day for years to come.”

Phagu Purnima, like most other festivals, had remained a sombre affair for the past two years because of the coronavirus outbreak across the world. But this year after the country battled the third wave, the Covid-19 situation has let up with a decrease in the daily caseload. Most businesses and marketplaces have opened their doors as the government lifted the pandemic restrictions. Festivals and public events are widely attended, raising concerns among the medical fraternity since the risk of transmission of the Covid-19 virus is still considerable.

On Thursday, Nepal reported 27 new cases of Covid-19, with no casualties in the past 24 hours. According to the Health Ministry, 961,781 infected people have recovered from the disease so far. The number of active cases stands at 4,376.

The public open spaces at Jawalakhel, New Baneshwar, and Basantapur Durbar Square, including many restaurants, pubs and corporate houses on Thursday hosted musical events. Almost all the venues were packed with Holi revellers enjoying the day out with their family and friends.

Tundikhel, the largest public open space in Kathmandu, was also filled to the brim with people enjoying the festival.

“I had never seen such a massive crowd here in Tundikhel,” said Dharmendra Jha, who was busy selling colour powders at the western gate of Tundikhel.

“During the past two Holis, I kept stalls selling Holi essentials at Basantapur since that was the only area where people gathered for the festival. But this year the celebrations are taking place in most pockets of the city. I am amazed to see such a big crowd here in Tundikhel,” said Jha, who is originally from Bara district and runs a cosmetic business at Asan.

Throughout Thursday, major junctions of the city–Shahidgate to Nepal Airlines, Ratnapark to Old Buspark–were packed with foot traffic and vehicles alike.

Last year during Holi, only Basantapur Durbar Square and its surrounding areas had seen revellers in large numbers despite a government ban on public gatherings.

On Wednesday, the District Administration Office, Kathmandu had issued a public notice asking people to celebrate the festival in a ‘responsible manner,’ and had prohibited unlawful activities such as smearing colours forcibly on people and throwing water balloons at people without their permission.

Although the authorities had asked people to celebrate the festival by following Covid safety protocol, a majority of people in the crowd were maskless.

“Although a larger number of people are vaccinated against Covid-19 compared to the last two years, there still remains the danger of the vaccinated transmitting the virus to the unvaccinated,” said Dr Sher Bahadur Pun, chief of the Clinical Research Unit at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital in Teku.

“The situation has somewhat improved but people should not neglect health safety measures in public spaces,” he added.