My sister (Papaya), myself (Mango) and my brother. |
Now getting to celebrate Holi was bahut, bahut exciting
for me. I've wanted to celebrate Holi since even before I got into Bollywood;
it's actually one of the few things I knew about India prior to the Bollywood
obsession and studying India. The only problem is the area where I'm from is
very desi-sparse, and to the best of my knowledge they haven't celebrated it in
my college town.
I didn't have any friends in the area who could go with me
(I really only have a handful of friends in the area, none close), but my sister
and one of my brothers have always wanted to do Holi too, so they came for a
visit and we made a family outing of it.
We went in with the expectation that it was going to be
somewhat awkward — outings into the desi world usually are for us. Not only do
we not know anyone (a situation none of us are particularly good with), but
we're also very clearly out of place to say the least, haha. And sometimes…large
groups of desi people are sadly not very welcoming.
Things were somewhat awkward on the approach. We didn't
quite know how to get into the fray of water-slinging that we came upon.
Because, yes, it wasn't just colored powder; this is Florida: There were
buckets and hoses and water guns involved.
Luckily on our approach, a group of guys with bags of color
came up, asked if we wanted to join and smudged our faces up and said
"Happy Holi!" I hope just saying Happy Holi back without returning
the color is appropriate because that's all we could do (we didn't realize
color wasn't provided).
And eventually we just got caught up in the water and color
slinging. We got doused in powder, soaked in water and doused in powder again.
It was mostly kids (like I'd say 12 and under) and some of their
fathers/30-something guys. There were a few groups of guys who seemed in their
20s too, but they were more selective…and flirty, I suppose. ;) It took me a
while to realize that they were being so selective and flirty. I'd forgotten
Holi is seen as a rather uninhibited chance to flirt (though thinking back to
my freshman year of college, I remember reading a short story about a Holi
celebration among university students that included rather inappropriate
touching).
But anyway, I got some leftover color and a nice lady
offered me a bag, anddd it went from there. It was still kind of awkward
because we didn't know anyone and who it was appropriate to sling with color,
especially if it'd be considered forward of me. I ended up just throwing it on
whoever hit me with water.
And there was a little boy about 4 or 5 whose dad kept
telling him to go put powder on a little girl's face, but the little boy was
shy. So I walked up and smeared his face. The look on his face was so cute. And
he smeared my face right back. So cute.
I almost embarrassed myself by dancing when music from Om Shanti Om played over the speakers, but I kept it to a minimum and just a lot of lip synching. :)
And about 24 hours later, parts of my skin are still dyed as
is my hair (see: my back this morning), and some of my clothes (partially by
design) are hopeless. I wore a white shirt with the expectation that it'd have
the best effect (and that it's somewhat the thing to do; that's what they do in
films!). And I didn't bother bleaching it. It's now a beautiful mishmash of
colors that are not white. Haha. But note to self, do not wear a white
bra next year! Wear a swimsuit! (If it wasn't so inappropriate, I'd show you a
picture of my bra that was once white and then multicolored and still was even
two bleaches later.) Even my right contact lens didn't escape Holi; it's now
permanently dyed red and no longer usable.
All in all, Holi was, despite the awkwardness, every bit as
fun as I hoped. There's always something liberating about slinging water and
dyes like a kid. And something that just feels fabulous about celebrating color,
especially as winter turns to spring. I hope I get to celebrate again with more
people I know (or at least more people my age!) so I have a better idea of
whom I can hit. :)
Happy Holi, everyone! May your life be filled with color.
Happy Holi to you too! I would love to do Holi, but would feel rather out of place, like you did at first. I don't even know where I would go to look for Holi celebrations. Maybe it is just a family thing now here. Of course, it wouldn't be quite as exciting as it is in the movies, because there'd be no fantastic soundtrack, like there is here!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9Y2NRFZoPw&feature=fvst
Oh, but there was a fantastic soundtrack! They played music from movies — like Rang Barse from Silsila (an actual Holi song) and music from Om Shanti Om. And you're probably right; it probably is a family-oriented thing. The one I went to was, but it was still fun.
DeleteSo fun, in fact, that I'm doing it again tomorrow, if you can believe it. They're celebrating it in my former college town, which is only about two hours from where I live now, and one of my friends from college wants me to go with her.
I've just found this now. How did you get on? Did you wear an old bra, did you wear your contact lenses and was there any inappropriate touching? Hmmm... those things don't usually go together!
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