Holi hai !!!

It’s not about why? It’s about how? That means I am not here to explain why we celebrate it, reason being no solid evidence of fact. Some might tell a story of Prahlaad and Holika (most popular belief) others might argue with connection to Krishna in the city of Braj. We already have enough stuff on the topic in the world of internet.

So I was talking about ‘how?’ Now this ‘How’ does not deal with the kind of ‘How’ we are dealing with on the TV or celebrity talks and news channels, like save water, use organic colors, protect your eyes, don’t throw people in gutter, do not use cow dung and so on… I mean we all know and must adhere to those suggestions and concerns; after all those are for our own safety purpose.

But here ‘How’ is different. Here I am talking about the way Holi is celebrated out of its birthplace, like a foreign tour. Being in Chicago, today I attended one of those ‘Indian communities Holi Celebration’. First of all you have to pay, that too in advance, buts it’s not a big deal if you are getting a chance play holi out of India. As Soon as I entered I realized that it is going to be a completely different experience. I mean there was a set up for bonfire, ‘Prahlaad, sitting on a bonfire with Holika’ sounds funny to me but yes that was exactly what those America born Indian Kids knew. I don’t know, we simply call it Holika. Anyway, unlike in India where muhurt is given by the priest from the temple, here start time was given by the owner of the place, from 8 PM CST to 11 PM CST. Exactly 8 PM, bonfire was lit, music started, husky voice of Mr. Amitabh Bachchan started floating in the air shouting, ‘holi khele raghubeera…’ and it went on playing many bollywood holi songs, in addition to that there were some latest Ranbir Kappor songs too, I could see this guy has really big fan following over here. I mean you should have seen those moves by half Indian girls on ‘baddtameez dil…’  

I thought of capturing those in my camera but then I had paid for better reasons. Next moment, I, with my friends were the part of the crowd, already dancing running around the bonfire and throwing colors on each other, everyone was given a bag full of colors to be used and bottles filled with gold colored liquid were a reasonable replacement for bhang, that’s it, Next three hours, it was just colors, music and dance.  

When I reached home, unlike in India, my clothes were not wet, they were not torn and there was no need to sit in the bathroom for an hour taking off the color from the skin. Just a quick shower and I were like before, clean and clear. Overall it was fun. Though I missed my family, my friends, all those relatives and neighbors who will come to home for Holi Milan, I missed the gujhia, bhang Kulfi with friends, I missed waking up in the morning and going to still burning holika to purify newly grown grains in the fields. There are many small small acts and rituals which makes it the festival of Holi.

So to all those of you, who, this Holi, are with their friends and family, make the fullest of it. Wishing you all a very happy Holi….Holi hai !!!