Gulal Ka Rang Sunhera!

Holi hai!

Holi is called the festival of colours. But I call it the golden festival. I think it is the KING of all the indian festivals.

I will tell you why in a bit....

The colours and vibrancy of this festival threads everyone together beautifully. 

Holi is a spring festival and it falls on the onset of vernal equinox. It is predominantly celebrated to welcome fresh colours of spring and bid adieu to the icy cold winter.

It has a religious conotation as well. The Hindu legend of Holika symbolizes the crematory ceremony of "holika dahun" and this day is more popularly known as "choti holi". Holi is a two day celebration. The night before holi, as a symbol of the ancient ceremony, people light a bonfire. This symbolic pyre signifies the victory of good against evil.

There is a beautiful story attached to this. The legend has it, that Prahalad, son of an evil King Hiranyakashipu and a devout devotee of Lord Vishnu refused to acknowledge his father as the almighty. This insubmission led the king to torment and torture his son to levels of extremities. The king's evil sister Holika cunningly deceived Prahalad into sitting with her on a lit pyre wearing an indestructible cloak. The legend has it that the cloak flew and wrapped itself around Prahalad while the flames engulfed and destroyed Holika, hence the name Holika Dahun. The legend also has it that upon witnessing this, Lord Vishnu descended on earth and destroyed the demon king. People rejoiced and celebrated this victory of good over evil. The legend continues even today. Only difference is that the stories are forgotten and people just come together around a bonfire to rejoice and make merry.

Now, it is the 2nd day or more commonly known as "Duleti" or "Holi" which catches everyone's attention and that is what I am talking about.

As a child, I remember I would wait desperately for this day the whole year long. It was exciting to ransack my wardrobe for old faded clothes. Yes, you read it right! Wearing old faded forgotten clothes had never been more exciting.

I remember all my friends gathering up in my house in their old clothes. It was funny. We all looked like a bunch of vagabonds. As rolling stones we would comb the streets of our township going from one house to another applying beautiful bright holi colours and spraying pichkaris full of water to any and every one who dared to cross our path that day. We would lovingly call our group "rango ki toli" (gang of colours). All you could hear everywhere that day was " bach ke kidhar jaoge...aaj holi hai" ( how will you save yourself today, it's holi).

The houses would be filled with aromas of delicious mithais and gujias and welcoming palms with gulal. It was crazy how many gujias we could polish off at one time! 

The best part would be when we would succeed in pulling out our unwilling friends to join our gang and continue the rampage. 

No one was spared... kids, elders, boys, girls, aunties, uncles....... Old or young, everyone was the same age that day. You could do anything and get away with it. All you had to say, "bura na mano holi hai" (please don't mind, it's holi). 

I vividly remember one such Holi incident. I must have been 10 or 11 years old. Taking up a challenge from my wicked friends, I ferociously smear colour on a bald headed uncle. He looks back to see who has the gutts to do this and then guess what.... he smiles and says, "oye bunny! ab tere baari hai" (now it's your turn). We were all in splits. Now, on any given day I would have been spanked by my parents for such an act but not on this day because "holi ke din sab chalta hai" (on holi day everything is forgiven). Can you believe it? We could even taste bhang and it was totally cool with our parents (of course under their guidance).

This saga of pranks, laughter, friendship and colour continues to this day. It is wonderful to see my children enjoying this abundance of colour and laughter exactly the same way as I did when I was their age. I do try and educate them on the relevance of this festival. But I have realised that somethings do change. 

Simple gulal (red colour) has given way to myriad colour choices, simple buckets of water have turned into water sprinklers, simple pichkaris have changed into complicated water guns, simple dancing on dhol has transformed into rain dance on DJ mixed bollywood numbers..... Things have evolved over the years but one thing has not changed and that is the spirit of holi.

The Spirit which sees no caste or creed or religion or culture. The Spirit of forgiveness, of friendships, of love, of laughter, of tolerance and of new beginnings. 

I still remember playing holi as lovingly with Mr. Sulaiman's daughters as much as I remember playing with the Kapoor sisters. And that has still not changed.

As an expatriate, I experience this overwhelming sense of holi spirit probably in it's truest form. 

Away from home, the feeling of nostalgia sweeps in every time any festival arrives and we look foward to our community celebrations. Among all the indian festivals I have witnessed overseas, Holi is the only festival which brings the locals and the Indians together. It is wonderful to see a Sri Lankan friend come up to you and apply gulal and say "happy holi". It is equally wonderful to see them match you step by step on bollywood holi numbers. 

Holi has the power to blend people across cultures and countries. Be it London or L.A or even Colombo, this festival becomes a celebration for all. A pure celebration of life. 

It is probably the only festival which is celebrated not so much for a religious belief but for something more humane. It just touches a cord in my heart. 

It is this Spirit of Holi which makes it the King of all indian festivals. It is this Spirit which makes Gulal ka rang Sunhera.

Holi hai!