Holi 2009

By Ishita Paul 4 April 2009 435 views 2 Comments

I was really excited to attend my first Holi at UT. Walking toward South Mall, the squeals and the Bollywood music preceded the colorful and festive sights. My first sight of the event was bright fuchsia colored cloud of gulal¹. From afar, it looked like a crowd of crazy people running in all directions, throwing rang² at each other and squealing like little children.

With great enthusiasm, I walked into the crowd, elbowed others in line, and finally got a smallish bag of rang. The next step in my plan was to find someone to douse in color. Since I still looked relatively clean, many people I didn’t know (or couldn’t recognize!) came up to me and rubbed color on my face, my arms and my shirt. That’s when the fun started. People chased one another around, and threw colors and gubbaras, balloons filled with cold water, at one another. The water balloons were getting tossed around, drenching people in cold water, making them shake and shiver. It was quite the fun Saturday, as you can imagine.

The Hindu Student Council (HSC) officers and active members did a great job organizing the event. They had set up tables to hand out rang and water balloons, and even had a separate stall for spicy samosas³ and water. The HSC had a proper time-line for the event that they followed religiously (pun not intended). For instance, they divided the three hours of the event into four rounds of color and water balloon distribution. In rationing the rang and the balloons, they ensured that their event actually lasted for three hours. However, this became quite frustrating for people, because after every twenty minutes they would have to get in a giant mob of a line to get more gulal. The same was the case with the snacks and the water.

After the four rounds of Holi were done, the people were all asked to assemble near the DJ and enjoy the music. The DJ played remixes of popular Bollywood songs and people danced in joyous abandon. Added to all this chaos was a group of students who were selecting one person from amongst themselves and beating that person up with their slippers. It was odd to watch a poor fellow receiving a sound thrashing from his friends in the joyous name of Holi.

Along with the colors, food, water balloons, dancing, and thrashing HSC had also organized several games for people to play. There was a three-legged race, a lime-spoon race, and of course Holi T-shirts being doled out as prizes.

I spent three hours having the time of my life, before I finally decided to go back to my dorm room. Looking like a hooligan with war paint all over my face, and colorful hair, I managed to scare quite a few students on the roads. My room-mate’s reaction, when she saw me, was incredibly funny - she thought I was breaking in to rob her.

Now, having showered and gotten all the muck out of my hair, nose, face, nails and God knows where else, I finally feel human again. I can honestly say that watching people getting beaten up by their friends, and receiving stares that silently asked if I had escaped from a mental hospital, that I enjoyed myself thoroughly. There’s nothing like hot samosas, and good times spent with friends.

So to all those out there who love Holi, I hope you enjoyed it. May the rest of your year be full of color: orange for energy, red for love and happiness, blue for peace, green for health and friendship, purple for excellence and prosperity, and yellow for sanctity and hope.

Footnotes:
1. Gulal - powdered colors

2. Rang – color

3. Samosas – stuffed pastry

Photo Courtesy: Maanit Shah