HOLI : Red, Green &…BLUES !!!

Unlike every other night, I was going to bed that night with an underlying tension. The reason- it was Holi, the great Indian festival of colors, next day. Holi day was probably the only holiday I rued over.

            I obviously did not sleep well and it was action stations the moment I woke up. My mom understood my pain very well and had hence decided lock us up inside the house to avoid Holi visitors. I told her not to step out of the house as though there was an ongoing terror attack outdoors. In fact, there virtually was one.

            There were these ghastly figures, completely soaked with colored water and throwing water and colors at each other. At times they would single out a person from amongst themselves and go for a gang-attack. The funny part was that, being in my neighborhood, they had to be acquaintances, but all of them were equally unrecognizable and resembled characters from The Planet of Apes.

            Mom asked whether I had changed my mind a wee bit after seeing them have fun. Fun??? Well that was not quite my idea of having fun. I replied-“On the contrary, my adamancy just got reinforced.” She smiled and then got back to her Holi business of offering Gujiyas. She had worked all day long on the eve of Holi along with the Baayis or Nannies to prepare a whole bunch of those delicious sweetmeats. But seeing some color smeared on it, as an aftermath of some early morning Holi with the maids, I ruthlessly rejected it. I turned on the T.V. for some entertainment, but gosh! every channel was airing Holi related songs and programs. “Holi ke din dil khil jaate hain…”, “Arey hori khele Raghubeera…” Laloo Prasad’s Holi and Aishwarya Rai’s Holi; that was all I got.

Then all of a sudden the bell rang and in came a voice-“We know you are in there!” Holy Crap! They were our family friends. I scrammed off upstairs like a tracer bullet. I then heard some noise, some squeals, some guffaws and finally the one I was dying for, the door being bolted. I lingered back downstairs and was shocked to see my mom inch close towards turning into one of those chimpanzees. She had Gulaal all over her hair and face and that smell, huffff ! 

Now it was my turn to tackle people as next in line were my friends. I strictly turned them down. Their orders gradually evolved into requests and finally, begging. Of course one could figure out that their intentions were still notorious. So I deployed my mom as my bodyguard and asked them to be gentle. Thankfully they were. I dashed back to the bathroom and washed off every trace of color on my face.

Finally, I breathed a sigh of relief as the sun was past its zenith and Holi hours were officially closed. I took some rest and recalled the sequence of events that morning. Every uncle, aunty, son, daughter had the same old question- “Oh, why is he so scared of Holi?” My mind was soon on a tour down memory lane and Ghosts of the Holi past had started haunting me.

It was 1995, my first ever Holi in India. We resided in the Guest House of IIT Kanpur back then. I had no clue about what Holi was and wandered out in the corridors of the building in pursuit of finding out. Well, I found out, and in a harsh way. I was relentlessly attacked by some disfigured and apparently demented creatures. I was drenched and in tears. I cried my voice hoarse and sprinted back to our room, our bunker, at least for that day. It took one hell of an effort to pacify that 6-year old heartbroken boy, who played his first and probably his last Holi for a long, long time.

            That’s all? But this happens to almost everyone on their first Holi. I guess it all boils down to the mind after this. Some take this in a sporting spirit and enjoy the essence of Holi. Some are sensitive and question its necessity or may also end up running away from it. But why is it so, that it is mostly the bully-natured kids who end up being the initiators and the reticent kids, at the receiving end. I guess I have given away the answer in the question itself. There will always be some who are gregarious, some reticent, some extroverts, some shy and some who are hedonistic by nature. It could be inherent or time and environment induced. Well, there are people who have dedicated an entire lifetime in developing theories regarding nature of people. So I think I should just suspend my research here as my perspective and leave the rest upon the psychologists.

            So now we know that I belong to the shy class. But does that end over there? Nopes! After that comes an eternity of taunts regarding the category. I always thought, why me? The reserved ones make an easy target, eh? I was wrong. If shy people are subjected to teasing then their counterparts, the extroverts, have a perpetual ‘Naughty’ or ‘Irritating’ stamp associated with them. Every action has its equal and opposite reaction. But it is actions which decide your destiny. So actions are a must and hence concluded that the reactions are inevitable. “Kuch toh Log kahenge…”.That’s their job.

            Even Iron melts after a certain amount of temperature. It took me 12 years of questions, taunts and jibes to reach my saturation point of tolerating the pressure. It was the year 2007, during the first year of undergraduate studies, when I gave in. I opened the door and took that small step for a man. (& maybe a giant leap towards mankind too) Celebrating with me was my bunch of mates from schooldays. We lived up to our reputation of doing something out of the box by throwing each other into a puddle and many such fun filled things of the like. So there I was, among them, one of them. Another ape called Apu had just joined the league, this one being a green one. That’s right folks! I was totally green and boy! What solid colors. They just wouldn’t go. I scrubbed and scraped myself red (from green) and ended up with a badly rash-ed face and perhaps some flexed biceps as well. This was more than enough to prevent me from playing the very next year.

            I would have skipped yet again this year had I not got a Gtalk ping from myself. It was Apu Pinging Apu (or Prady Pinging Prady, for readers in my college). The same fears, the same perception of eccentric monkey-like figures and the same belittling feeling of being an outcast for that day. I was asked for some tips to avoid Holi. I was tempted to share my 12 year experience, but I refrained. The query had come from my close friend’s little sibling who like me, was yet another one of those confirmed anti-Holi-ic. The first thought that came across my mind was that, what’s the harm in just giving a shot with the colors along with your friends, at that age? Why Hello?...I had a complete childhood phase at my disposal to try out.

            Anyway, she did take the plunge and at an age and stage far prior to mine. Meanwhile I was left choice-less for this year as I could ill afford to back off after delivering a motivational speech of that caliber, if at all it had anything to do with her decision.

            So what’s the conclusion of this lengthy, never-ending story? The fact that everyone has his or her own pace in life; be it the pace of learning or the pace of overcoming fears, could be one conclusion. It can also be well-inferred from one of the passages that, everything in life comes with a price-tag. As far as Holi is concerned, I guess playing it is completely a matter of choice. It may be a little hard for peers, who grab every opportunity to make fun of each other, to understand. But at least the elders should never impose Holi upon kids. Having said this, the festival overall creates a wonderful platform to get the people of this beautiful nation, where the networks are increasing but the connections are decreasing, together at least for a day.

            But does that mean I will be playing Holi regularly? Hmm…I would suggest don’t trust me on that one. The fear factor may have died out, but the laziness factor may still creep in. Let’s see.

Happy Holi folks!