Colours, gujiyas and fun...I love Holi so much
Holi happens to be my favourite festival. I particularly enjoy the colour
part of it. I keep stocks of every colour but red happens to be my
favourite. The other ones specially, the purple is one I hate to use on
Holi. It never goes and makes one look so bad.
I also enjoy preparing gujiyas with my mother and sisters. My mother keep
frying them in the pan, while we sisters do the rolling, cutting and filling
part of it. My favourite job is to do the filling which gives me a chance to
keep stealing the tasty khoya which is full of dry fruits. Eating the
gujiyas - piping hot just as they come out of pan is the other most
cherished moment of the festival.
I also take care to keep my preparation for the festival ready. Like choose
some old and faded jeans and a shirt I am bored off besides taking care of
the oiling and creaming part of it. Otherwise, the aftermath of the Holi
festival could be extremely tiresome.
I have also had a bad experience after Holi once when I got so much
engrossed in playing with the colour that I became to late to get a bath and
the water tank got exhausted. I had to wait for hours drenched in the water
before the water supply was restored. It was a very painful lesson that I
learnt - take a bath on time.
I particularly enjoy the festival in the company of friends and relatives,
i.e. when there are lot of people to be coloured. The excitement is
unmatched when everybody loves the festival as much as you do.
- Mitali Mishra
A memorable Holi
Oh
what fun we had on the Holi that year. The tradition followed was digging
the lawn generating some mud, throwing some buckets of water and then the
prey. So, it was a very earthy kind of Holi that we played that year in the
hostel. The good part was that the prey was asked get the buckets herself.
Then everybody decided that we have grown up enough to have our first doze
of bhang. A thandai was prepared, somebody had stored a little milk from the
morning breakfast. There was one very enthusiastic girl who sneaked in the
maximum share. High on the spirit of the festival we had the mandatory dance
on the Rang Barse bheege chunar wali....
Meanwhile, one who stole maximum share, sat under the sun and started
waiting for the bhang to give her some kick. She kept cribbing for about
half an hour..nothing is happening..nothing is happening...
After some time she suddenly started laughing and did not stopped even
after repeated attempts to stop her from doing so. Her body started aching
but she could not control her laughter. Then all of a sudden she started
crying and then again could not stop... She got the kind of high she never
expected.
Although I can't remember her name, I can't forget what fun we had at her
expense. I owe a big thank you to her for making that Holi so memorable in
my life.
- Smriti Arora
Holi-The festival of love and joy
Holi is a festival of colours which generally falls on a full moon in
March.. It is also a festival of love and unity and celebrates the triumph
of good over evil. The festival is celebrated with lot of pomp in north
India.
Holi is celebrated with vibrant colours - these colour are actually colours
of joy, colours of love and colours that fill our life with happiness to the
core of our hearts. It adorns each life with its various hues.
There are many legends given as the reasons for celebrating holi. Long ago
there was a king named Hiranyakashyapu, he had a son, Prahlad - a holy
spirit and highly devoted to God. But Prahlad's devotion enraged
Hiranyakashyapu and he planned to kill his own son. He asked her sister
Holika, who was immune to fire, to sit in fire taking Prahlad in her lap.
Fortunately Prahlad, who was blessed by Lord, was saved and Holika was burnt
to ashes. This gave birth to the festival of holi.
Another legend speaks of the everlasting love between Radha and Krishna.
The legend is celebrated with great pomp and show.
All hearts are lighted with glory and people everywhere enjoy with their
near and dear ones with different colours. People also throw water balloons
on each other and on passer-by too. Many are also drenched in coloured
water. Hours pass by throwing colours on each other and it seems as if it's
just the start of the day.
It's a festival of gaiety but then there are few who make this festival, a
festival of evil. They do this by infuriating the strangers by forcefully
throwing colours on them; some use colours that are difficult to remove and
unsafe for skin and health. Many take it as a day of drinking alcohol but we
should not forget that Holi is a festival of triumph of good over evil. We
must try to wash away all the evils in our hearts along with the colours and
allow the colour of love to stay there forever and ever. This is the true
spirit of Holi.
- Tanmay Agarwal
Time
for renewal
Holi is a time to rejuvenate. The significance of holi festival has crossed
many pages in history to arrive here, as a time to celebrate renewal. Every
festival has its own traditions in the backdrop, but what really matters is
the spirit of festivity.
Colours speak louder than words at times. Holi goes beyond the custom of
smearing colours on each other. It crosses the realm of traditional customs
to reach new dimensions of the renewal and spirit. It's a time to create new
bonds, reach out to others and forget the past worries.
Every year I embrace the occasion with growing enthusiasm that bridges over
my colourful childhood memories, to reach me today, as a festival to
celebrate. Besides exchanging sweets, colours and well-wishes, there is
something more to it that I adore; It is the spirit of unity, friendship and
a will to forget the past and let the present take over our lives. This is
what makes it my favorite festival.
- Jyotsana M Mehrotra
