My Holy HOLI

OK.. Where should i start from? 

I was simply lucky. Even if i didn't plan or didn't know that this was the Holi Time in India, i was able to attend 2 Holi celebrations, each very different than the other. First one was in Hyderabad on Thursday, March 8th. Second one was in Hampi the next day.

It was my first proper Holi. 

Even if some Indian friends organized it in Brussels before, I wasn’t able to join any Holi celebration so far. So I was excited; I was curious. My one & only disappointment during the whole day was to start around 10:30 instead of 9:00 which was scheduled by AIESEC guys before. As I was impatient and already witnessed the Holi fires on the streets the previous night, I was eager to spend as much as time as I can in the Holi celebration.

Before the party starts, buying colours & meeting with others 

The day started with the supply of Holi colours from the street sellers. Specially for Holi, you are able to see many small carts on the side of the streets to sell Holi colours. Then after picking many friends of Kavya, we set our Holi Celebration destination as the street next to a very luxurious hotel (don't still know why). We ended up being 15-20 people in the celebration venue and in ½ hour all smeared in different colours, some with eggs broken on their heads, some tomatoes smashed on their back.

Starting to get wild 

One thing that I admired with Holi was that, there was no age for this festival. Normally holidays or festivals, or bayrams are exciting mostly for children. But no, for Holi, you would see 60 year old rickshaw drivers or 40 year old garbage women all covered in different colours. It is only normal that day to see people in a random street running, shouting, colouring each other and celebrating Holi.

 Random Groups on the streets

How we looked like at the end of the first party

The second party was with AIESEC members, however being late for an hour or so, we saw all the people already coloured in the sharpest tones of pink, blue, green, purple etc. AIESEC guys were wilder, they were colouring each other with the buckets of coloured water and I guess I was splashed a good amount of 3-4 buckets of super pink irremovable coloured water.

AIESEC Guys going crazy

Holi Celebrations can last during the whole day however the majority of people was coloured already by noon time so we also came home right after the noon so that I could properly clean up, visit Charminar and get ready for my train to Hampi at 9:00 in the evening.

How my tshirt and I looked like at the end of the day

"I smell like Chapatti!'

This irremovable toxic colour was a really big pain in the @ss. One good trick that I learnt from Kavya was to rub “rice flour” -which is used in pastries including chapatti- on the semi-dry skin so that it can absorb and peel off the colour.  After a shower of more than an hour and a looot of flour, I could feel the flour in every single pore of my body and I was then smelling like a traditional Indian chapatti :-) After another long shower session, I could finally get rid of that "chapatti feeling" but on the train i swear i was still smelling chapatti -maybe only psychological, not sure-

I thought Holi was over but No. 

I arrived in Hampi, clueless about what would happen in the next couple of hours.

When the very first rickshaw driver in Hampi told me that they would celebrate Holi that day, i was confused and he explained me that temples all around India are celebrating it on different days. I went to the guesthouse with a dilemma of sleeping or joining Holi but after an hour i decided to experience the traditional way of celebrating the festival in this small village. 

Celebrations in Hampi

By the time i arrived there, celebrations had already started. Men and children of the village and tourists from various countries were all in the middle of the city dancing along the drum rolls, already coloured. Before i entered the craziness, a local reporter approached and interviewed me. (Today my interview is actually on the local newspaper with no picture though: :/)

Tourists totally blend in the local celebrations

Before me trying to join, a couple of people dragged me in their circle and i started going along with the rhythm, appreciating the pink, blue, yellow on my face one by one, accepting the offers from local kids to be on my shoulders and becoming a part of the whole craziness.

Kids having their fun

Celebrations went on for 3-4 hours, i was there most of the time. I met with a couple of interesting people, danced hysterically like the others, coloured in every possible colour you can imagine and finished my last Holi session with a bag of rice flour again in my hands.   

End of the day

All those colours. Happy Shining People. My friends. Strangers in the village. Hysterically and careless dancing. Wild celebrations. Long showers. Chapatti feeling. All, a part of an unforgettable memory now. 

ps: I am still black, it looks like i have mustache, a very thick one, my ear lobes are all red, my nails are like auto mechanics', all in weird colours, need to use that flour for a long time no doubt.