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.”