A horror story played out in all parts of the city and the rest of the country on Monday. Despite the authorities imploring, urging and even banning the celebrations, the newspapers are plastered with photos of people without masks celebrating the high-contact Holi festival with abandon. The obscene physical contact of the festivities is precisely why the authorities had decided to ban the celebrations.

The police and civic body were able to do precious little about the situation. In a few areas, the cops were able to stop the rules from being flouted, but they simply could not be everywhere.