Holi - playing with colours!

Holi is a perfect festival for anyone refusing to grow up and stop playing. Although technically a celebration to the Lord Krishna and victory over the demon Holika, it is now merely two days of playing, drinking, eating bang - or good food, and relaxing at home with your family. For some reason, the Pahadi, people originating from the hills, and the Madeshi, originating from the Terai, play on different days, but since people in Nepalgunj is approximately 50-50 Pahadi-Madeshi, we simply played for two days.

It is wise to put on something old for Holi, because the game played involves lots of colours. Pigment of all imaginable shades are smeared or thrown at friends until everyone is unrecognisable. The more the merrier seems to be the only rule of the game.

Starting at home with giving tikas to family members, people then go around in their neighborhood calling neighbours from their house to come play Holi. This is a day when it is possible to enter any house, regardless of whether or not it would normally not be the custom. When getting out of the house, one pretty much consent to being a target for anyone, especially if you are a bideshi. Children block the road and demand money for letting you pass or they throw coloured water.

I played Holi both days, first day with the family I share house with, the next day with some of the LHRAs of Huron. Saturday was a pretty calm day playing with the neighbours and then eating and dancing at home. Sunday however, things went crazy. Together will Anup, Bhupendra and Ram Sing, I went around to different villages and home of friends together to play. The further away from Nepalgunj we came, the more fun it was to paint the bideshi. I was completely covered in colour and had to give tikas and pose for pictures with everyone. Even though sometimes thinking that I'd chowk from the pigment, and being blind becuase my glasses were aither covered by coulour or taken from me, I had a great time all day. I even enjoyed the dancing that I could not escape when we played at Bhupendra's home.

After dancing in the temple on the first picture we all went home to my house to prepare the Holi dinner. But, before being able to prepare it, we had to catch it... We had decided that we were going to eat fish from the pond in our garden, prepared Nepali stile downstairs, and bideshi stile by me upstairs. Since we didn't get enough, it was quickly decided that only I would cook (with the help of the LHRAs). But since they cut up the fish nepali stile before I had a change to say that I wanted to cook them whole, I was for a while thinking I wasn't going to be able to prepare anything tasty of it. I had not much choice but to do soup which I've never done on my own before. Luckily I managed, and at least they said they liked it...