Holi — the festival of colors, the harbinger of phagun or spring is such a wonderful festival. Being a UPite, I can never forget the umpteen holis of my childhood played in my grandpa’s house where there was this frolicky holi played with relatives. It used to be cold so each of us kids got a shot of brandy after all the getting wet and shivering routine that we hated. Mummy and all other relatives prepared yummy gujhias, namkeens and such delicious food. After bathing and trying in a futile manner to scrub off the color, paint and what not from the skin and hair, we would all look forward to having the yummy food. I have never had bhang personally but would like to give it a try once in this lifetime 🙂 having heard so many tales about it.
Then the Holi of Mumbai where it was common to get hit by water balloons on the way to school or back. It was quite a nuisance. Then, there were the holi celebrations with other families in the colony, there was dhol and people singing songs, fun and gaiety and of course, color or gulal all around. To me, Holi is a festival that engulfs all in its path with colors and an infectious cheerful spirit irrespective of anything else. It also used to be a rare opportunity for boys to approach girls they would otherwise dare not and color; some nuisance elements do take advantage of it, but parents were wiser and kept an eye especially on their girls.
Now, we live in the South of India where Holi is not really celebrated. But, in our community, we play Holi with such fun and decently, only coloring those who come out of their houses and using only color. We also had a Holika dahan last evening here. This is the best part of living in a community of 300+ houses where we participate with a lot of enthusiasm in celebrating all festivals. This is undoubtedly the best part of being an Indian and celebrating such festivals in India. I leave with a picture of us taken last year on Holi. This year, today we did not take any but had loads of fun, nonetheless!
Happy Holi, all… Aapke jeevan mein rang jagmagaye!
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