bura na maano... holi hai !

Well, i'd call it the meanest, dirtiest festival India offers. Yet, It always accompanies the funniest and most alternative, unconventional social interaction with friends . as they say .. bura na maano ... holi hai (dont feel bad about it, its holi today)
A quick look at wiki may suggest that it was meant to celebrate for the demise of some monster or witch (holika) which is done by burning effigies at night the day before holi. In the morning, people celebrate by colouring each other and merry-making.

My holi experiences have been varied.. sometimes getting the opportunity to prevent myself indulging into the messy festival, while sometime having a trouble removing residual marks of colours (or having cold, sneezing etc due to being wet for 3-4 hours)Anyways, holi at chandigarh never seemed to change since my childhood. And i've been in these roles my life.

For the young brats, holi is meant to be waking up in the morning, filling up buckets, balloons and getting ready for the verandah's of their house. Then they wait for people going outside on the roads to get a taste of their effort. the people living on the top floor are always at an advantage in the festival as they fill up buckets of colored water ready to throw at the common peddler going moving on the road.

The teenagers and bachelors take up the event of celebration on the roads. With bikes without silensors (confused bout spellings), coloured riders without helmets (but with bandanas), and mouth horns in their mouths, the roads have never seemed so live. The spoilt brats are in the comforts of their big cars, though, which are all decked up with friends (and sometimes dholkiwala's sittin in the back).
Holi parties also cater to the young generation. With mud pools, grease and eggs acting as the weapons of destruction, dry colors or water colors are a thing of the past. Music, beer and 'bhang' ke pakodas too come in handy with girls and boys grooving in with unrecognisable faces and wet bodies ....

for the adults, its an occasion to meet friends and play holi with 'clean' colors. flowers and Organic, sweet-smelling dry colors are used here .. Further, the religious people get an opportunity to show-off their conservativeness by organising mass bhajan recitation or some stupid stuff unknown to me, Though the adults are no less in enjoying it to the fullest, in their manners.

For me, this year was a mixture of roaming on the bike rides and getting in the mud-pool, water and dance and an egg on my neck ..... but was fun too, especially taking revenge for hte people who'd coloured me ... well, at holi, its all bout expressing yourself in a gross, perverse manner (thats the fun of it). hitting out the people when they least expect it. and after that, no sorries. its holi, remember ?? just cause whatever ordeal you want for your friends.

the end product of holi is a human looking in the mirror and laughing at himself(before going to the bathroom for the biggest bath of the year).