HOLI HAI... Come holi and the streets will reverberate with
the chants of Holi hai...
Colours will fill the atmosphere as people throw abeer and gulal in the air
showing great joy and mirth in the arrival of this Spring Festival.
Holi marks the end of the winter gloom and rejoices in the bloom of the
spring time. It is the best time and season to celebrate; Holi provides this
opportunity and people take every advantage of it.
Days before Holi, the markets get flooded with the colours of every hues.
This aptly sets the mood of the people till the actual day of Holi. It is
such a colourful and joyous sight to watch huge piles of bright red,
magenta, pink, green and blue every where on the streets. Buying those
colours seems as you are bringing joys and colour to your home and into your
life.
Children take special delight in the festival and demand every colour in
loads. They have so many plans in their mind. They have to be the first to
apply colour to Mama, Papa, siblings and a big bunch of friends in their
colony. Nobody could miss being coloured by them and of course, they need
colour for that.
These days it is easy to buy colours from the market but still some people
do take up the task of making colours at home, usually from flowers of
tesu
and
palash. These home made colours, have a special fragrance of
love in them.
The other option is to buy gulal which comes in bright shades of pink,
magenta, red, yellow and green.
'Abeer' is made of small crystals or
paper like chips of mica. This is mixed with the gulal for a rich shine.
Mischievous ones, however, go for silver and gold paints on which no colour
could be applied.
Whatever be the choice of colour, nobody remains in their original texture
at the end of the play. And everybody takes delight looking at the other.
Really, the other name of the festival is FUN.
And, it is not just children, but the young and the old alike who take
delight in this joyous festival of colours.
Seniors
too,
move in their tolis. Their enthusiasm is at times greater than that of their
children as they forget the bars of age and follow their hearts. To youth,
holi gives a chance to explore the heights of their enthusiasm as they climb
the human pyramids to break the pot of buttermilk and to express their love
to their beloved by applying colour.
For, Holi knows no bars, everybody feels it is their right to enjoy and
enjoy they do. Songs, dance, drinks, food everything goes in excess when it
is time for Holi. It can be said, "Life turns Colourful" when it
is time for Holi.
