Holi Once More

It is that time of the year when once again the sounds of Holi hai will resound on the streets. Its Holi time again so gear up for the big day and let’s play Holi. This festival was itself quite famous and has been made more famous due to pictures showing Holi scenes. The famous Holi based songs have added an extra zing to our celebration.

In comparison to the earlier years that is the years of my childhood when Holi was celebrated day long and was a riot of colors things have changed. There used to be an element of intense masti when clouds of gulal flew in the air making the atmosphere exciting and romantic. Now Holi is still known as the festival of colors but it has lost much of the intensity and charm.

Today the people are more work oriented and they try to escape from playing Holi on the pretext of having to prepare for an important meeting or they take another way out. They plan a out of town holiday. So if they are not in town then the question of playing Holi does not arise.

The mental attitudes have undergone a great change and the zest and fervor for the festival has started diminishing. These people have indeed forgotten their own childhoods and the galloping times they had playing this very festival of colors which they are now trying to escape from. Not only this they are also depriving their children and family from enjoying this colorful festival which is symbolic of love and bonding. It is also a way of celebrating a good crop and saying thank you to the Gods.

I still remember my grandmother preparing thandai, a drink made of melon,muskmelon khus seeds and almonds added to milk. My mother and aunt used to prepare sweets like Gujiya without which no Holi celebration was ever complete.

Our home was filled with the fragrance of the multi colored gulals on one hand and the home made sweets on the other. It was indeed a heady concoction for us the children. We waited eagerly for the special day to dawn so that we may start celebrating. When it started what a great event it was. Sounds of laughter incessant chatter and the clinking of buckets filled with colored water filled the house. We the children were running from one place to another coming in the way of the elders who asked us to go out and play. This is what we wanted. Like an army we marched out with our water pistols, water buckets and packets of gulal. We used to have a great time drenching every one in sight. Our ammunition depleted we returned home. We were asked to take a bath before eating lunch. We were so full of color that it used to drip all over the house. We scrubbed ourselves clean which was made easy due to the oil that we had rubbed on to our hair face and body. Now we sat down to relish a delicious meal after a hectic morning.

Even today these very scenes flash before my eyes and making me nostalgic about the day we played #KhulKeKheloHoli.

“I’m pledging to #KhulKeKheloHoli this year by sharing my Holi memories at BlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed.”

All that fun in the name of Holi

A day when its time for you to come out and play irrespective of your size or age. This is the day when you forget your grievances and greet friends and foe alike. Let them not escape as you have to drench them in the colors of your love. Let there be smiles all around as colors fly in the air and shouts of Holi Hai resounds in the atmosphere.

Today the children are burdened with copious home work and loads of books and they find a great relief in this festival of colors that makes them forget their woes and worries.

Seeing the children scurrying hither and thither with packets of gulal and water pistols of various shapes and designs I am reminded of my childhood days.

Our preparations started nearly a week in advance. We got together in groups and discussed about the holi colors and as to which were the fastest and would not wash away easily. We knew that other groups of children were planning the same way. We were ready to face the music as it meant lots of fun.

We lived in a joint family and had a lot of relatives living in the same premises. More members meant more action and greater fun. Just before Holi our home used to become a hub of activity. There was a lot of coming and going and shopping for colors and gulal was on top priority. Sweets and namkeen were all prepared by my mother and aunts in huge quantities as a large number of guests were expected on the Holi day.

With all these hectic activities I and my cousins used to go frantic with excitement. We waited for the big day to dawn. Huge tubs filled with yellow flowers called Tesu soaked in water were prepared in advance. Then platters of sweets and other eatables were kept ready on a table and of course covered with a cloth to avoid us children from filching a few from them. This did not mean that we were being ignored. We were also given a huge packet of eatables to share with our friends. Content with our booty we would arm ourselves with our water pistols filled with colored water and a bucket of colored water to replenish our guns or pichkaris. Our first targets were the relatives and guests coming to greet the family. After this we would move on to the balcony and target passersby. Our next agenda was to move out on the street and drench who ever came into view shouting Holi hai. The boys in our group would dance to the bollywood songs being sung by us the girls. Many stopped to applaud us and we did not miss this opportunity of drenching them. With the buckets of water being exhausted we turned back home where a royal repast awaited us. Fluffy puris and kachories, dahi bhallas and of course the special Holi treat the juicy gujiyas.

After this it was time to clear the color from our hair, face and body. It was time consuming but made easy because we had taken care to oil our hair and face. We purposely kept our arms with color prominent because we had to show our friends at school the marks of Holi.

Today also the children should not be debarred from their annual quota of fun and let us all play #KhulKeKheloHoli

“I’m pledging to #KhulKeKheloHoli this year by sharing my Holi memories at BlogAdda in association with Parachute Advansed"

Change with share the load

A detergent leader like Ariel is propagating the cause of women and says that gender bias should not come in the way of household laundry. It says that the notion of laundry being a women’s job should not be passed down from generation to generation Men should stop themselves from thinking that the women of their household are responsible for washing their laundry. It is a selfish act on the part of the men to always expect their mother, sister or wife to not only look after their clothes but also to wash them. These men cannot be completely blamed as they have been watching this work being performed by the women of their household for years together. There may have been instances when they may have offered to wash their laundry but this offer was gently rejected by the women out of love and care for them. Since then it has become a habit with them and they do not ever give it a second thought.

Now a survey shows that 81% of married men in India agree that their daughters must learn household chores and there are the 78% of girls in India who agree that they should learn Laundry as they will have to do it when they grow up
When 65% of married men in India agree that their children replicate their behavior at home then how can the children be left behind as 2 out of every 3 children think that washing clothes is a mothers job.

Now the men insist that the women wash their clothes each and every one of them and the women on the other hand do not resist doing this task as the training given to both the sexes has been such. Such expectancy is like love’s labor lost. A man expects every one to rush to his side and tend to him even if he has a slight headache but he never cares to enquire about the health of his mother, sister and wife when he sees them looking unwell. He expects them to continue with the task of washing his clothes even if they are low in energy or feeling unwell.

All seems to augur well for the women as with Ariel and BlogAdda on their side there is a greater chance of more and more men to come forward and give a helping hand with the laundry. It does not take much skill or time if the men start with the task of washing their socks and under garments instead of cluttering them on the floor or pushing them into corners. A small start indeed but it would make them shed their prejudice and prepare them better to #ShareTheLoad

 “I am joining the Ariel #ShareTheLoad campaign at BlogAdda and blogging about the prejudice related to household chores being passed on to the next generation.”

Lets share the load

The very word laundry conjures up a vision of pile of clothes that need a good wash. In fact it means that the clothes are dirty and some of them stinking dirty. The washing of clothes requires that the clothes are sorted first by color. The best policy is to keep the colored clothes in a separate pile and the white ones should not be washed with the coloreds as their color may run into the white ones spoiling them. A little care is all that is needed in doing the laundry.

Men consider themselves to be the master of the house. They are of the view that their domain is the outside world that is they are only concerned with earning, doing a job or running a business.

Men have been watching their mother, sister or wife attending to their every need from cooking food for them to washing their clothes for them on a regular basis. They do not know that all these women wash their clothes not because it is mandatory for them to do so but because they care for them and out of affection and love for the men.

It has now become a habit with the men to expect the women to do their laundry too.

The women on the other hand do not complain against this extra burden of work loaded on them. Children mimic the behavior of their parents, and the onus is on us to set the right example. It's time to end the cycle of prejudice surrounding household equality!

Mom! Where are my fresh socks?’
‘Didi! Why didn’t you scrub my shirt’s collar? It’s still grimy!’
‘Dad! If you see mom ask her to keep my football uniform ready, I need it tomorrow!’

These are some of the most common refrains often heard in nearly all households.

Why do 2 out of 3 children consider laundry to be a women’s job. This is because the wrong message has been passed down from generation to generation. Young girls are taught by their mothers the art of washing clothes. It is drilled into their minds that laundry is a women’s task and they must accept this as their fate. Both men and women forget that doing the laundry is just a matter of choice. So we the women and the men should take steps to change all this. Both the boys and girls should be taught how to wash their clothes from a young age. They should be told that washing their own laundry is not a shameful task but a matter of pride.

Since the men have taken the labor of love as their birth right and women do not protest the situation remains the same. No one has ever thought of bringing a change in the old pattern. Things are about to change when a detergent giant like Ariel has come out in the open to speak up for the women. When such a thing happens the men are bound to notice the plight of their women whom they care for and love. They will volunteer to join #ShareTheLoad campaign. With the men on their side the roles will change as more and more men will start helping the women by #ShareTheLoad.

 “I am joining the Ariel #ShareTheLoad campaign at BlogAdda and blogging about the prejudice related to household chores being passed on to the next generation.”