Happy Holi

In India, there are sundry festivals that people celebrate throughout a year. We, do enjoy all the festivals with equal level of emotions, banishing religious and cultural differences. We greet and meet each other on Eid, Christmas, Diwali and all the other festivals, with the same level of warmth and love. One such festival is Holi, the festival of devotion, prayers, colors, and fun.

For few, it’s merely a holiday, but for many, it’s a day when they can be a child again. Everyone enjoys this day with their friends, family, relatives, colleagues and fellow students, forgetting all sorts of barriers. For parents, it’s a challenging day, not only to ensure their kids play safe but also to get their kids back home and make them as clean as possible. For some, the festival dissolves not just colors in waters, it also dissolves prevailing animosities.

Kids prepare for Holi at least 3-4 days in advance. New pichkaris along with packs of balloons and colors are bought and kept ready days before. Children show each other their new pichkaris and start comparing and convincing others that their pichkari is a better one.

I remember, a night before, we used to keep a separate tub filled with water to fill up pichkaris. Also, another tub is kept for balloons filled with water. But before filling balloons with the water, we used to add color into it. There were competitions among all the children in the neighborhood, for a greater number of balloons.

As we grew up, the level of Holi increased. Where simple colors or gulaals were replaced by oil paints and artificial colors. Also, there were friends who would just turn up after half of the day was over, and all the cleaning part was done. I am sure their acts of showing up late were deliberate. I remember once a friend of mine was thrown into a pool of mud. Those were the days and that was the friendship, where such things never hurt anyone’s sentiments. Nowadays, people get hurt even if someone does not hit a like button or fails to respond over social media.

In schools, a day before Holi, me and my friends used to bring some colors in the school, hiding them inside the bags. We used to wait eagerly for the last class to get over. Post-school, we used to visit a nearby park and play with colors and use water from the drinking water bottle. But before that, we had to change, as our uniform shirt’s color was white.

There is one particular song that gets played every Holi, on various TV and Radio channels without a miss. Even after so many years, “Holi aayi re” song from 1984’s Mashaal movie is refreshing and very much enjoyable. It is my most favorite holi song. And I am sure, for many, it would be “Rang Barse” from 1981’s Silsila.

A handful of people try to take advantage under the hood of Holi celebrations and stretch their limits while playing with girls and ladies, and I really feel such things need to be stopped and such people need to be more responsible for their behavior. Also, the people around should be watchful and interfere if required to avoid such incidents.

Embrace this Holi with the color of love, the water of care, balloons of warmth, and allow the happiness to follow.

Let’s be a child again.

My 3 years old daughter is ready with her water bag with attached pichkari. Are you?