Playing Holi

  Bombay, India
Sunday, March 4, 2007

Climbing trees

My one desire this morning was to sleep in. I had had a late night the previous evening, and when Sunday is your only non-work day, you really can't be bothered to get up so that you can party some more. (Or, I should say, _I_ can't be bothered to get up to party. But, sleep is just about my favorite things in world. I'd forgo just about anything: eating, parties, work, my friends, etc. just to get a little bit more sleep in).

But, get up I did. 11:00am found Jignesh knocking on my door, bidding me to hurry. He explained that I would need to wear something that I don't care about as I would be covered in paint.

Holi goer

I couldn't possibly fathom what would be going today, nor did I have "junk" clothes. I mean, when you're travelling to live somewhere for two months, and you only bring one small suitcase, you don't exactly bring clothes that you don't care about.

Fortunately, I had my new skirt that I had bought the previous evening (for this purpose), and managed to find an old t-shirt that had been left behind in the apartment. Finally, I used a pair of sneakers that Edda had left behind when she moved out. I was all set. Or, so I thought.

My skirt doubles as a cover-up

New friend...

The first stop was to Enakshi's house. There were about eight people sitting on the lawn, and drinking had already begun. We were the fresh meat-- our clothes were unspoiled as yet, and my full length skirt in particular was too tempting to pass up. In no time, I was covered in hues of green, red, blue, and pink powder. One man, Imam, was so inspired that he had me lie down in the grass with my skirt flared out like a canvas while he worked Jackson Pollock-style sprinkling the powder over me in his own methodical fashion. Finally, to set the powder, he attacked me with a water gun. So there I was, dripping with water, and looking like a human rainbow.

We've been hit!

Now it was time to party!

We loaded up in our cars, and made the short jaunt to a nearby location in Juhu. Once past security and the guest list, we found a massive party complete with open bar and free food. (These Indians know how to throw a party and I have never seen anything like this. When you ordered a glass of champagne at the bar-- and remember it's all free, no tipping, either-- they would give you the WHOLE bottle.

Free champagne!

It was an almost endless supply; five hours later when the champagne had run out, you could still get a whole bottle of wine. Strange to me, since all those glass bottles could make for a bad day if they were to break). One area was designated as a dance floor, with five or six men standing on the overhanging roof, spraying water from hoses down upon the masses. It created a heavy rain effect, and meant that all of the painted crowd were drenched, drunk, and sufficiently cooled from the hot, early afternoon sun.

It's a mad, mad world

The water began to accumulate on the ground, so that one was dancing in six inches of water, which was now the shade of a pomegranate from the colored powder.

I did my part in this mad rain dance, jumping around enthusiastically to the steady beat of the music. In this Hindi festival, the people dance to usher in spring, and the colors are traditionally composed of natural materials which possess Ayurvedic properties.

I passed the rest of the afternoon, soaking in the sun under the palm trees overlooking Juhu beach, whilst my friends continued to play Holi in the water-logged patio below.

Definitely, my coolest experience in India yet.