Why You Should Celebrate Holi
Why You Should Celebrate Holi
Many people don’t like to play Holi. I don’t blame them. It irritates to let the skin, you pampered the whole year, bear the beating of colorful chemicals which are rubbed mercilessly on it. And logically speaking, if you have to remove the colors, why to apply them in the first place? Why waste time?
It is not that such thoughts did not cross my mind while making arrangements for the wet Holi spell with my family. It had been years since I played by splashing the bucketfuls of water on people. I remember, in earlier times, we had a tiny container of color powder. A small pinch of it would be enough for the whole bucket. It went on for years giving us many colorful Holis filled with those balloon and pichkari attacks. Walking in the unrecognizable clothes which would be dripping water wherever we went, we would not take bath until the evening. That two-hour effort would cost nothing in comparison to the joy of hours when we played crazy.
After several years, I enjoyed the similar time, although I found myself worrying about some practical aspects, like wastage of water, application of oil all over the body and doing a sort of color make-up to flash a good combination of colors in the pictures. But, as I started off with my brother and sister-in-law, I found the same cheekiness coming alive. When the colors got over, I was not disappointed until the whole tank of water was available.
I spilled a mugful of water on every passer-by in the street. It was a sweet time waiting for someone to arrive and apprehending their reaction on what I was going to do. Some people were so conscious that they walked beneath the ledge to protect themselves. I saw a boy looking towards the terraces here and there as he negotiated his way barefoot. He looked so afraid that I had no choice but to pity him. It was funny to find people so careful about protecting themselves from harmless water but not from the many harmful things going inside of them everyday and filling their bodies with lots of toxins. What about the evil thoughts which keep clinging to their minds until the end of life. Do they ever think of finding shelter from them?
Now since I know this difference between permanent bads and temporary goods, I prefer the latter. And this is why it feels good to spray colors on each other no matter how hard you have to struggle to remove them. Because nothing which you do to relive your childhood is bad as long as it brings some memories which you would love to recall as you grow old.
