It is a great high!

Mona

High and Holi go together, and bhang has got a lot to do with it! Thandai is as common as gujiya on this festival! Ever since Dr Swapna Thomas became Dr Swapna Singla and moved base from Mumbai to Chandigarh to follow her love, bhang has been a staple at every Holi party, an event awaited by her extended family and friends alike. 

She laughs more, speaks little and conveys how her then boyfriend, now husband, Dr Vikas Singla, made her have some bhang when they were at a medical school in Pune. “I had it and was okay till I went to my derma OPD, where I was held in high esteem.” What happened next was hilarious; patients finding the doctor laughing out loud. Perplexed, her colleagues took her aside and all she could utter through the laughter was, “I am too happy”. 

Total fun

Holi and bhang are an irrevocable combination for actor Kanwal Preet Singh. “Main taan ji bhang diya dariyan baha denda haan,” says the Chandigarh boy. Bhang makes you fly, says this effervescent person, recalling his first time, “We were about 40 of us who enjoyed thandai and I was so high that the rest of the 39 had huge trouble reining me in.” Apparently, he went around screaming, ‘Sanjana ko pakad ke le jao,’ and years on he has no idea what made him say that or who Sanjana was! “The kick that bhang gives is unparalleled, one is in another zone,” he says.  

Right company

No intoxicants for Jaskshan, founder Dance Dacha, but she says, “If one is getting high, bhang is more weird.” On the day, she likes to make her thandai all by herself. “For me, Holi is all about right company. If one loses oneself in alcohol or bhang, how would you have fun at all?” she questions. No alcohol for her either, thandai is sans bhang, but she has an interesting take, “When people pay Rs 2,500 for a Holi party, alcohol toh banti hi hai na. People have bhang/alcohol not because they want to, but because they have paid for it.”

Agrees Prashant, who is into event management, for a decade, “Loud music, bright colours and bhang set up the party. Youngsters opt for bhang over alcohol on Holi largely for that’s been a time-tested tradition.”

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