It's Holi today in India and I am in Salt Lake City - at the other side of globe, miles and miles away from my home. This is my first Holi outside India and I am missing it. It's not that I like playing Holi - this vibrant festival of colours can easily be termed as the most rowdiest festival celebrated in India by Indians irrespective of their religion and creed, though primarily being a Hindu festival! It is a spring celebration and the exuberant ritual of putting colour on each other crossing all the man-made barriers of caste, creed, language and religion. And as I am born in Uttar Pradesh and spent a good part of my life in Northern India - I have seen Holi being played and celebrated in its true essence. And till date every year I have tried locking myself in a room in a effort to hide myself - most of the years I have been successful but sometimes I have got dragged into the "HOLY MESS" by my friends!
But yeah - Holi is becoming dirtier and uglier as years go by - the true essence of love and binding is getting lost. It is becoming an opportunity for a good section of people to go wild..aromatic natural colours getting replaced by harsh chemical paints - the essence is getting lost somewhere!
But this year - its different...It's a White Holi day with temperature hovering around freezing. It snowed for the last two days - not a touch of colour anywhere! No RED, No YELLOW, No GREEN, No PINK - ONLY WHITE! I am missing those loud melodious songs, esp. the evergreen "Rang Barse" played in every household today, the mouth watering Ghujias painstakingly made by our Moms, the coloured faces throwing paints and water ballons at each other, children taking special delight in pouring coloured water onto people on the road - everything is coloured in India today!
As I sit and gaze out of my window to the greys and browns of the upcoming spring season in the US, the thought of my family and friends getting soaked in colours, enjoying the spring festival on the other side of the globe - brings a nice bit of colour, a ting of nostalgia, a gush of emotion to my day!!!
रंग दे मुझको !! बेंगनी, नीला, हरा, पीला, लाल !!! रंग बरसे, होली है !!
1 comment:
well well.. i so know wot u must feel.
among the many things that discourage me from settling abroad, one of the primary ones is festival times.
our festivals are really important to us.. not for religious reasons alone.. not just for the rituals.. not only for the food.. not just for the togetherness.. not for any one thing.. but for a combination of all of these that makes for fond memories year after year for many years..
i hope u remembered everything and everyone in a fond way.. am sure holi missed u!
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