Celebrations began on Holi Eve. On campus, a couple hundred of people gathered on a field. There was a big bonfire, lots of drunk people, a DJ, and a lot of dancing. A couple people decided to start the color fest a little early- I ended up with a half green face, and much anticipation for the next day.
Wednesday morning the big fun began. Everyone dressed in clothes they knew would never be the same again. We set off with water guns and bags of brightly colored powder. About two minutes down the road we had our first encounter. There were a couple younger boys standing on the side of the road, watching us intently, as we were them. When we reached them there was a moment of unsureness, and then yelling of “Happy Holi!” as we ran at each other with handfuls of colored powder. And that was that and we continued down the road, so excited for more. After a few more minutes of walking we reached a boys hostel and were immediately bombarded by guys with bottles of dyed water, and of course with the shouting of “Happy Holi!”. We continued walking and had several more similar encounters. Finally we reached an area called Gops where the real Holi celebrations were happening. Everyone was running around and yelling and throwing colors at everyone else. Just minutes after we joined in the fun, most of us were barely recognizable because we were so covered in colors. It was good, not only because we got to throw colored powders at everyone all day, but because I didn’t feel as if I was viewed as such a foreigner- we were all the same color. It was the only day that when someone asked to take my picture I said yes and didn’t think they were simply taking my picture because I looked different.
Things at Gops died down around lunch time so I headed back to my hostel for food. After lunch I went into the showers and the floors were all sorts of colors. After my shower I still had a blue forehead and lots of other colored skin, as did most other people. You could definitely tell if someone had been a party-pooper that day because they didn’t have any unusual colors on them.
Sometime later in the afternoon I was invited to a party. Not thinking it was going to be a colored powder party, I dressed in (my only pair of) jeans and a dark t-shirt, just in case. I was hoping people wouldn’t laugh at my blue forehead. We arrived at the party to find that it was just as colorful as campus had been previously, and we were the clean out of place ones. Pretty quickly I was again covered in colors. There was one table full of big community buckets of colored powder. There were also huge tubs of pink-dyed water, which I got a bucket of poured on my head. Followed by an egg. My blue jeans are now purple jeans. Everything that was in my purse now has a pink tinge. And now 5 days later my skin is still a nice pink/magenta tint. I’ve been called Violet Beauregard (the girl that turns into a blueberry on Willy Wonka) multiple times, and rightly so. Everything I touch turns pink, really. My bed, clothing, phone, even a computer mouse that I used have pink on them now. The never-ending color was well worth it though, as Holi was one of my favorite days spent in India yet.
P.S. Watch out next March if you’re near me- I plan on bringing this holiday home.
You have always been a colorful girl but never like this!!!
ReplyDelete