I first heard about Holi when I traveled to India eight years ago. I heard that "anything goes" and some of my friends wanted me to send to alcohol from the States for Holi. (Devout Hindus do not drink alcohol and in Varanasi, at that time, you had to go to expensive hotels to buy any). Thoughts of color had me putting Holi on my "goals in life" list. Since then, seeing Bollywood films and reading about Holi, I had a picture of complete chaos. This past week I kept hearing about "Holi gone bad" stories. From skin being dyed colors for weeks, to eyes being burned from toxic dyes, to crotch groping...I was worried something would happen and all my fun would be spoiled.
Holi is actually a two day festival that celebrates the devout Hindu prince, who refuses to worship his father over Vishnu, one of the gods. His aunt (Holika), who is fire resistant, is enlisted to kill her nephew by pulling him into a fire, ends up burning because Vishnu saves the boy and takes her power away. So, on the full moon during March, all over, this is enacted large bundles of logs and fronds being burned. Next to us, the apartment compound had a 15 foot tall pile they burned. When the fire raged, people would circle the fire, dropping water as they went. As this happened, excited children pounded them with plastic bags filled with water. This was expected and there was a lot of laughter. Greg and I huddled against the building to be out of the line of fire and watched the spectacle.
The next morning, we headed over to our friends', Reid and Rachel, flat for brunch and then headed off with our expendable clothes, olive oil rubbed on skin and
After brunch, we made it to the outside of the building and neighbors were starting their own Holi celebration. We joined them, playing with the kids, throwing powder, shooting water everywhere and eating sweets washed down with a Kingfisher that the neighbors insisted we share with them. After refilling our water guns, we set out to roam Bandra. Our firs
Overall, I was pretty amazed by the manners of everyone, t
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HAPPY HOLI!!!!