Yesterday was Holi in India. My hosts here had been invited to a Holi celbration and they promised me that the people at the party we were going to were definitely not going to "play colors"...So off I went in my good clothes, glad to have a real invitation to meet real families. A rarity when one travels...My hosts where I am staying are in mourning so they assured me that this year there would be none of 'that'.... HA!
Soon after we arrived a woman appeared at the door with her husband; she was splashed with colors all over her face and clothes. OH OH... It went straight up from there; Laughter, drinking (not by me though), running, intense colors being smeared all over your body and clothes and THEN came the water. Bottles of water, ice cubes and finally the hose...My kind of people. I threw caution and the preservation of my beloved skirt and dress to the wind and jumped into the fun head first. They were delightful to play with; sparing no one, not even the foreigner; especially the foreigner.
Suddenly the sound of drums drifted through the joy-filled air and we rushed out to the street to see the tail-end of a troupe of young people dancing along in the street. One of the women invited them to come in; I watched in awe as this group of about 30 young people began dancing very some very complex local dances, flowing and snaking to the right and left; arms linked together and all the while to the steady beat of the drum. The others, smeared with brilliant colors watched and grinned in loving amusement and approval.
When it was finished, our hosts for the evening brought out a golden metal jar filled with money. What came next brought tears to my eyes. The whole group of young people, including our hosts gently dropped to their knees while the young people chanted Vedic chants from the scriptures (I have captured a half of a minute of it here). When the chanting was over our hosts gave them their money and they were on their way; no fuss, no muss; gone.
I began to get chilled and the other women suggested I jump into the hot shower and wash everything off, while they found some clothes for me to wear. (good thing we wore about the same size). Dinner came later; rice, beans, subji and MUTTON! (at last, some meat)... for desert there was a pineapple upside down cake, kheer and some sort of sweet pancake with sauce.
We all retired to the screened in porch and then the cards came out. POKER had arrived!!!! About six of them played raucous, good-hearted poker for an hour or so and then, just as quickly as it had begun, it ended. We all went our separate ways with our clean bodies, fresh clothes, full bellies, fond memories and warm hearts in cars that were glistening and wet as they waited in the gently falling rain.
HOLI...I loved it.
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