Happy Holi!

 Holi is the most colourful time in India literally and figuratively, with use of colourful and bawdy language accompanying the rich spectrum of colours which adorn the faces and the attire of the people  it is obviously amongst the most popular in the myriad of  festivals in India. Memories associated with Holi take you back to your childhood, when you enjoyed colouring people and getting coloured without any malice or prejudice, just plain and simple,"Bura na Mano Holi Hai"    (Don't mind, it's Holi!). 

Holi and Lord Krishna are inseparable, Mathura Vrindavan has a rich heritage of the celebrations where Lord Krishna and Gopikas indulge in fun and frolic. The poets have immortalised it in this metaphorical verses "Kaisi Hori machayi Kanhai.."(Kanhaiya you have played a magnificent Holi, you have immersed the whole universe in such vibrant  colours). Lord Shiva plays Holi in the crematorium with ashes reminding you of the fleeting nature of our existence here. Holi also has a very rich Sufi tradition, the Ganga Jamuni tehzeeb which we only hear about these days is best displayed in the kalams (couplets) of Sufi poetry. Listen to Abida Parveen's divine rendition of "Holi ho rahi hai Ahmed Jiyo ke dwar", which  transcends your soul to a different realm altogether. 

That Holi is celebrated to commemorate Prahlad's  faith, truthfulness and fearlessness where his own Aunt Holika perished in the fire is a well known tale, but why is it celebrated only on the onset of Spring and not in Autumn or Summers, needs deliberation. If it was just getting immersed in colours may be summers would be more apt, after all a wet colourful day in the peak of summers would be so refreshing. Autumn when the trees are bereft of the greenery, when Earth suddenly starts to look forlorn and barren, a splash of colours would probably alter the mood and will be like more welcome. Spring which itself begets a  kaleidoscope of  bright flowers just signals that Earth is now ready for fun and frolic. With harvesting round the corner, people may rejoice and indulge in harmless tomfoolery without any inhibitions of caste, colour or creed.

As kids we would look for the fast colours which would not go away with a single wash, after all, what was the use of colouring an individual if he did not carry the stamp of having played Holi for next couple of days. The fact that he resembled a monkey with shades of crimson still lingering on the cheeks did not in the least bother him. He was happy that he gave as much, if not more to the person who coloured him. The only weapon that he carried on person was the 'pichkari'(a syringe of sorts), well armed now, he would join the gang and together they would paint the town red literally.

In the Army units Holi celebrations are unique, each one different from the other, but certain things are common, one Holi is celebrated with the men first, where they get to colour the officers and sing Bhojpuri  Holi songs with generous dose of spirit adding to the much spirited lot. By the blessings of Bachhus, the Greek God of Wine, the folks flock around the officers, lift them off their feet and carry them around dancing all the way. Despite instructions on use of dry colours only, it just takes one man to introduce water into the arena and then it becomes a free for all. Now wet, hungry and pleasurably happy lot are on the lookout for some snacks which appear from somewhere in the form of Pakodas, which are gobbled up by the dozens, without realising that there was some "Shivji ka prasad" (Offerings to Lord Shiva), Bhang (Cannabis) which was an ingredient in the delicious pakodas and considered par for the course. 

Now the fun begins when this cannabis starts to show its true colours, normally most of us would be wary of the events which would follow and thus judiciously avoid the snacks, but a hungry man can always be convinced by his own mind that a little dose of Bhang can be managed as he was perfectly in control of his senses and knows when exactly to stop. The intoxication of Bhang is unique, each one has a different experience, some just keep laughing incessantly without any known or decipherable reason, some start to cry and shed copious tears without knowing as to what is it that made them wail on. As the Commanding Officer, for the first and last time I let the 'indiscretion be the better part of flavour' and succumbed to this Pakoda prank. Boy, I had turned into Einstein, with mathematical equations of all kinds appearing and being solved  in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately, the sound sleep which followed, put paid to all my Bhang induced genius. Happy Holi!