Holi

Today I attended Holi or the festival of colors with Rashmi and Chetan and their friends.

In India, Holi takes place in the streets and lasts at least for one week. But here is Singapore, and they love to regulate everything, so it happens in a closed area for one day and you can only use standardized colors they sell inside. You have to pay to enter and the entrance fee includes one drink. Fortunately, they don't give you goodie bags and there is no lucky draw. There is a stage for live music (partly) and the show coordinator (or the singer or ... ) shouts every 5 minutes: "Are you having fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun?". They need feedback for that, because they can't see Indians just enjoying their time in every possible way and don't need them to entertain them at all.

Hint: If Rashmi tells you next year that "Don't worry. People don't know you that much, so they will be nice to you and won't put much color on you and ...", don't trust her. You are the first person that people start putting color on you, then they pour enough water on your head to make sure that the colors go down your collar completely. Well, they tell you happy Holi first and after they are done they'll smile at you.

.....

At the end they wash their faces and the color almost goes away.You wash your face again and again and again, but your face remains red and they continue laughing at you and enjoying their time.

Then they decide to take the MRT back home, as no cab driver might accept to give you a ride with all the colors dripping from your clothes. Everybody looks at you like an alien in the MRT station. Your Indian friends start a very normal political discussion with you, because they want to remember your face like that for a while (You know, it's just fun to remember later). Of course they give you a compliment about how nicely purple goes with you skin color. Rashmi enjoys it the most when some blue powder scatters everywhere each time you move your head, because you've forgotten to clean your hair before leaving the venue.

Back home, I think how many nations are like Indians? Dancing and singing and celebrating is in their blood.

It was just fun today. Apart from one of my ears that is slightly blue and the other one that is a bit purple the rest of the colors finally went a way.

Holi is to celebrate the beginning of spring. In it's original form people used to use natural colors made of flowers and overall it had been a romantic festival. These days those colors are replaced with synthetic colors and some people even might throw other things (like eggs, obviously) at you in the streets.

Note: Throwing shoes particularly happens in Iraq by journalists and has nothing to do with Holi.

In India if you go out during Holi festival when you come back home you look black, because every one adds something to the color collection on your face and clothes.

HAPPY HOLI!!!

You can find me in this photo that I stole from Chetan's pictures: