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!
Happy Holi! 🙂
I enjoy reading your Holi experiences in different cities. 🙂
“WISH YOU N UR DEAR ONES A VERY COLORFUL N SAFE HOLI”
irfan
Happy holi!
Wishing you a colourful and happy holi:)
@chandrika, irfanuddin, rama, tomz Wish you all a very happy holi as well.
i wish we could reinvent this festival where it becomes mascot of water conservation.
Happy Holi
http://moneyandus.blogspot.com/2011/03/holi-and-water.html
Holi Mubarak Rachna, with all the tensions going around here, didn’t even know it was holi. Hope this spring brings in peace happiness and prosperity everywhere.
beautiful pic . happy holi
Some festivals are liked regardless of their religious roots. Holi has the spirit of life in it.
Have a colorful season,and let the colors stay on for ever.
@Prasad N Well, we played dry holi mostly. With water scarcity already hitting Bangalore, water conservation kicks in big time as well :). Wish you happy holi too.
@bbsearchingself Wish you the same. I hope you are safe and things get back to normal for you soon. Wish peace to you too.
@Vani Thanks! Well, we did get to click our pic later today, which I might upload later :).
@dr. antony Very true, doctor. I hardly see any religious significance in holi any more. Yet, it gives a good opportunity to meet and have fun irrespective of anything else.
I have never heard of this festival but have now read up and wish you all the a Happy Holi
@Jane Thank you! It is so much fun.
Each of these festivals must be having a scientific relevance.
I am surprised, Holi is celebrated–though on a very small scale—here at Singapore too by the Indian community.
Its the much awaited time of the year… the Holi month.. the month of joy and love with fun filled enjoyment.
@BKChowla I hope you had fun on Holi too.
#Rachit Welcome to my blog. Wish you a happy holi too.
Happy holi to you to .. I did not even know it was holi here in uk 🙁
Bikram’s
Hi belated happy holi.I know ,Bangalore is very gloomy on a holi day.
Hey nice hair cut rachna in bw.I am somehow not getting the post updates of some blogs in my blog dashboard.That’s why I dont come to know when u update your blog.Seems like I missed a few posts.
@Bikram Oh, that’s bad, you missing out on holi.
@raji Thanks dear for the compliment :). Wish you a happy holi too. I know blogger does these things sometimes.
Belated Happy Holi. I am surprised Holi is not celebrated in South so much. Though we live in the USA, we celebrate Holi here too. But it is the same….
Nice picture
@A Yeah, it is a fact. And, kids don’t even get a holiday here on Holi, so you can imagine.
wow, you are so beautiful in this new look of you profile picture, too much serious I think, but still very pretty!
The photo of this post, specifically, it’s the most cute of your family that I have ever seen, wonderfull, congrats.
About the post itself, well, you know that the traditions from India are very appreciated for foreigners as me, specially when they are put as reminiscences of childhood, exactly as you did it now, and for almost all my friends that likes to travel.
@David Thanks and you are as always pretty profuse with your compliments :). I got this new haircut for the summer. thanks for the compliment about the holi photos too. You are right, these kind of things would certainly appeal to travelers, the same way as we are attracted to your colorful carnivals.