March 27th is a special day in India. This is the day they celebrate Holi, the festival of color. I had seen signs of preparation since I first arrived, street side vendors with mounds of brightly colored powders.
When the time comes the powder is mixed with water and either applied by hand or put in squirt guns and water balloons. I've seen many photos and video of the crazy atmosphere that accompanies this day, so I was excited and left the apartment with a bit of trepidation.
Almost everything shuts down for the holiday, so the streets were eerily quiet, even for 7am. I did come across people already in full "color" as I got further along in my walk and I received many good wishes for a "Happy Holi." So I made it to work without getting any color on me.
After the morning shift I made the 45 minute walk back to the apartment for lunch. Things had definitely picked up. There was more traffic, many young men on motorcycles, their hair, faces, clothes and even their feet now deeply colored in bright orange, red and blue. Entire intersections of streets were now turned blue, even many of the street dogs had splashes of color on them! And the children - oh how they were enjoying themselves! Already colored from head to toe, they chased each other with water pistols and tossed water balloons at one another. What a day for them.
More shouts of "Happy Holi" and many handshakes, but still no color for me. I was starting to feel a little left out. But I still had my walk back to work and then the final walk home for the day... so I still had a chance, so I headed back to Kalighat. I had walked through groups of young men on the sidewalk earlier in the day, but the small group I saw before me was different, I could just tell. They were in their twenties and all dressed in white that was now fully doused in many different colors. They saw me coming and start to wave and shout "Happy Holi!" They stopped me to explain Holi and told me not to be afraid. I told them I wasn't. One asked if he could borrow some of my water. I said sure. They had just dumped some bright green powder on one guy and they took my water and dumped it on his head and rubbed it in and he instantly had green hair. They returned my bottle and they all started shaking my hand, asking me to go for a drink with them and just being super cute and friendly. I wasn't intimidated at all. I did notice that me hands were now bright red from shaking their hands and then one of the guys took some wet red powder and with his thumb gave me a nice big swath of red color right between my eyes and the upward on my forehead. I officially had color, just not totally doused, which I was okay with. I said my goodbyes and went on my way. A few minutes later a yellow Ambassador cab went by and a guy stuck his head out the window and blew a cloud of bright orange color my way and it gave me a nice spattering.
When I arrived at work many of the guys and some of the nuns gave me a big smile and just said "Holi." They got a kick out of seeing me with color on my face, arms and hands. The guys also got a special "Holi" sweet (some sticky stuff that looked like shredded wheat), which I thought was nice as they are confined inside and didn't have any other chance to enjoy the festival.
The other thing about Holi, is that families have a big, special meal and in the afternoon there were very long lines at all of the butcher shops. Everyone was looking for some nice goat to take home for the meal.
My walk home at the end of the day was pretty uneventful. I think people were home preparing for the evening meal and to go out later. I just received a lot of smiles and well wishes, which was nice. I also stopped for a grape smoothie. I think it was he most delicious think I've ever tasted.
The next day things were pretty much back to normal. However, you can still see color stains on people's hands and faces. I was able to get it off my face, but my right hand is still pretty red. I went for a walking tour and found myself in some very narrow, winding streets and came across a pack of young boys that were still celebrating. They tossed water balloons at me, which was actually quite refreshing as it was 102 degrees out! On an even narrower street I saw ahead of me a group of older boys/men who were completely colored and seemed to be a bit drunk. With some horseplay and colors flying I decided to make a quick detour to avoid any potential craziness and I made it home safe and sound with no new color. It was a great day.
When the time comes the powder is mixed with water and either applied by hand or put in squirt guns and water balloons. I've seen many photos and video of the crazy atmosphere that accompanies this day, so I was excited and left the apartment with a bit of trepidation.
Almost everything shuts down for the holiday, so the streets were eerily quiet, even for 7am. I did come across people already in full "color" as I got further along in my walk and I received many good wishes for a "Happy Holi." So I made it to work without getting any color on me.
After the morning shift I made the 45 minute walk back to the apartment for lunch. Things had definitely picked up. There was more traffic, many young men on motorcycles, their hair, faces, clothes and even their feet now deeply colored in bright orange, red and blue. Entire intersections of streets were now turned blue, even many of the street dogs had splashes of color on them! And the children - oh how they were enjoying themselves! Already colored from head to toe, they chased each other with water pistols and tossed water balloons at one another. What a day for them.
More shouts of "Happy Holi" and many handshakes, but still no color for me. I was starting to feel a little left out. But I still had my walk back to work and then the final walk home for the day... so I still had a chance, so I headed back to Kalighat. I had walked through groups of young men on the sidewalk earlier in the day, but the small group I saw before me was different, I could just tell. They were in their twenties and all dressed in white that was now fully doused in many different colors. They saw me coming and start to wave and shout "Happy Holi!" They stopped me to explain Holi and told me not to be afraid. I told them I wasn't. One asked if he could borrow some of my water. I said sure. They had just dumped some bright green powder on one guy and they took my water and dumped it on his head and rubbed it in and he instantly had green hair. They returned my bottle and they all started shaking my hand, asking me to go for a drink with them and just being super cute and friendly. I wasn't intimidated at all. I did notice that me hands were now bright red from shaking their hands and then one of the guys took some wet red powder and with his thumb gave me a nice big swath of red color right between my eyes and the upward on my forehead. I officially had color, just not totally doused, which I was okay with. I said my goodbyes and went on my way. A few minutes later a yellow Ambassador cab went by and a guy stuck his head out the window and blew a cloud of bright orange color my way and it gave me a nice spattering.
When I arrived at work many of the guys and some of the nuns gave me a big smile and just said "Holi." They got a kick out of seeing me with color on my face, arms and hands. The guys also got a special "Holi" sweet (some sticky stuff that looked like shredded wheat), which I thought was nice as they are confined inside and didn't have any other chance to enjoy the festival.
The other thing about Holi, is that families have a big, special meal and in the afternoon there were very long lines at all of the butcher shops. Everyone was looking for some nice goat to take home for the meal.
My walk home at the end of the day was pretty uneventful. I think people were home preparing for the evening meal and to go out later. I just received a lot of smiles and well wishes, which was nice. I also stopped for a grape smoothie. I think it was he most delicious think I've ever tasted.
The next day things were pretty much back to normal. However, you can still see color stains on people's hands and faces. I was able to get it off my face, but my right hand is still pretty red. I went for a walking tour and found myself in some very narrow, winding streets and came across a pack of young boys that were still celebrating. They tossed water balloons at me, which was actually quite refreshing as it was 102 degrees out! On an even narrower street I saw ahead of me a group of older boys/men who were completely colored and seemed to be a bit drunk. With some horseplay and colors flying I decided to make a quick detour to avoid any potential craziness and I made it home safe and sound with no new color. It was a great day.
I'm posting a few photos on Facebook as I still can't figure out how to add photos here!
Amazing...love thinking of you talking to the locals!!
ReplyDelete