Tis was the festival of colors

Holi has become just another festival, a date on a calendar that comes and goes away. However this was not always the case . There was a time when Holi used to be a pivotal point in our lives. The preparation for which started many weeks ahead of the festival of holi. This was the festival that the entire family celebrated together. In those times families were not nuclear instead it meant all the uncles and aunts and even the neighbors gathering at our home. Every one would don there crisp whites and start playing with yellow tesu flowers that were soaked in water to color it with the organic color. If you thought this was boring then wait. This used to be just a warm up session. Soon this mild form of Holi would turn into a riot of colors with everyone smearing each others faces with gulal. This used to be the way of getting everyone  into the mood. Then with each round of color play with gulal the battle of colors would intensify. Gulal would give way to faster and darker colors and everyone would be running after one another trying to outdo in smearing colors. By the time this ritual would have reached feverish pitch and by now everyone would be covered with layers of color from head to toe. The hair would be all filled with colors and so was the face. If this was not enough the abandoned bathtub in the backyard would be filled with fast colors and one by one each member of the family would be chased and literally pushed into the tub. All this was in good fun and care was taken that no one got hurt.The only protection that I know used to be the “Tail Ka Jod” or the oil massage that my mother insisted that I apply on all my exposed body parts and my hair. This coating of oil would help us wash of the color after the festivities stopped . Now a days neither do the relatives get together nor are there festivities. Everyone avoids playing Holi on one pretext or the other .Suddenly “Celebrating Holi” has become a taboo word that no one wants to touch even with a barge pole.In all this aversion to playing Holi I miss all the togetherness, that care free running after one another,that smearing of colors and then eating sweets and Namkeen together. It was not the time of Selfies as no one had cell phones yet the visions of those carefree Holi festivities and the memories  are etched clearly in my heart and mind and I yearn to relive those funtastic Holi moments one more time.So this year I and my family have decided to relive those happy times once again. We plan to recreate those happy times and relive a colorful Holi once again. So the mood this year at Holi time at my home is going to be #KhulKeKheloHoli . All are invited and care would be taken that no one leaves our home without being drenched in buckets full of fun so let the festival of Holi begin.

“I’m pledging to #KhulKeKheloHoli this year by sharing my Holi memories at BlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed.”

I am going to play Holi Khulke

Our lives are a long series of work, work and more work. It’s a very long list of endless meetings working out strategies, working on projects. The daily grind takes a big toll of your energy making your life lackluster. The year continues to drag and every thing seems dull and black and white. Festivals come and their coming brings no thrill and they pass away without bringing any thing special with it.
We celebrate the festivals because it the norm to do so and every one is doing do. The festivals now mean for us a day to take expensive gifts for the boss in order to please him and get that long cherished promotion. This has robbed the festivals of the spirit of enjoyment
There is one festival that is singular in catching our attention and that is the festival of colors. It is a celebration of colors of every imaginable hue. This festival is a big favorite of the old and the young alike. When the winter season begins to recede and the spring makes the flowers bloom, then comes this fun packed occasion called Holi. Children start making plans for this glorious event by buying pichkaris, gulal and water colors. Every market has shops stocked with these items. The children can be seen displaying their treasures to their friends. The hottest topic is what all colors they have bought and whom they are planning to drench with their colors.
We the adults may not be that enthusiastic as some of us shirk playing holi either out of laziness or may have planned a vacation or the biggest reason being the fear of the skin and hair being spoilt by the harsh colors. But one should not fear the ravages caused by the onslaught of colors as an application of oil on the hair, face and hands acts as a protective shield.
I still remember that as a child I used to plunge myself whole heartedly into the exercise of mixing colors into different buckets of water. This done I would fill my pichkari and get ready to take my friends by surprise as they come running towards me shouting Holi Hai. It was a stiff competition as to who would color the friend first. Gobbling the juicy gujiyyas we would run together in search of our fresh victims. Soon we were so drenched with colors that it was difficult to recognize the faces. I can never forget how my friends mother caught hold of me by the ear and took me to her home scolding me all the while. My friend followed along with our bunch of friends. They tried not to laugh but could not contain themselves and burst out laughing. Hearing the laughter my friend’s mother stopped to look back and seeing her son in the group caught my face in her hands to have a closer look. Realizing her mistake she also could not help but smile. As a compensation for her mistake she gave me two gujiyyas instead of one. This event made my Holi most remarkable.
This year I have decided to invite all my friends for a Holi party so that we may relive our old memories and play #KhulKeKheloHoli this year!



“I’m pledging to #KhulKeKheloHoli this year by sharing my Holi memories at BlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed.”