The basic premise of celebrating Holi is that you go up to strangers and attack them with water guns, water balloons, colored powder, and crazy colored foam shit that sprays out of a can. The meaning of the holiday is the celebration of Prahlad, a Hindu god, and also the start of spring, with some recognition of overcoming differences between different parts of society thrown in. While all of these things are great, whoever realized that the best way to celebrate them was by waging a color war was pure genius.
With an enthusiasm not often seen in children over the age of 7, we woke up early and armed ourselves with colored powder and water guns and headed over to Shapurjat, a neighborhood next to ours that is a maze of tiny alley ways lined with apartment buildings. From there was basically a scene straight out of West Side Story except with random colors flying around. We wandered around and came across other gangs of kids and teenage guys and attacked them in full-on street (color/water) warfare. The whole time you are prowling the streets for targets you are also getting pelted from above with water balloons and straight up huge buckets of water that people just dump on you. The gung-ho ones also mix the colored powder into the water balloons so that when they explode on you you’re covered in bright pink awesomeness. In the midst of all the battling there are truces where you wish strangers happy Holi and put the powder on their forehead like a bindi. At one point we were having one such momentary truce with some hooligans when bam, the entire group of us were drenched with a tub full of water from a balcony above. The whole neighborhood was into it, and you’d have someone from the 4th floor balcony dumping water on someone standing on a second floor balcony, who is pegging people below with colored water balloons. The best part is that it’s not just kids, teenage guys, and three random white people who celebrate but there were these cute little old ladies up on the balconies in their saris laughing hysterically as they were pegging us with water balloons.
The roommates following The Battle of Shapurjat
Jack illustrates the importance of staying hydrated during battle
Most of the color washes right off, but some is way too permanent and my arms are now tinted pink and my neck is a bizarre shade of green. (Side note – I don’t know if any Bowdoin s’women read this but I had some serious flashbacks to mornings after the post-nescac party as I spent an hour in the shower trying to wash off the evidence of ridiculous debauchery).
So at this point you should be convinced that Holi is way cooler than any other US holiday ever. But, just in case you really love your Christmas carols and are still on the fence about the beauty of a city-wide paintball game, the second part of celebrating Holi is the mass consumption of Bhang, which is an Indian form of weed. Although technically illegal in Delhi (but legal in neighboring states) you can get under-the-table Bhang in little packets from the cigarette stands. (The packet claims that it is an auyervedic medicine and should be consumed in the presence of a medical provider…hmm…). It’s basically marijuana leaves mashed up into a paste that you eat. It is also mixed into drinks and baked goods, such as the official drink of Holi, which is a fairly delicious concoction called Thandi. Bhang is legitimized for Holi, and the newspaper even publishes its top Bhang recipes for your Holi party. On the Friday before the holiday, Sreela, our boss/secondmother had us over for dinner with her coworkers from her other job and served us all some weed-laced goodness. Definitely not your typical office dinner party.
In case I ever run for political office, I of course have no idea of the effects of this Bhang substance or any sort of drink containing it, but from my friends I can tell you that it tastes terrible but packs quite a punch, and considering it costs a rupee and a half is by far the cheapest high on the market. But, like I said before, when it comes to eating the Bhang, I might have chewed but I didn’t swallow.
The group following a second round of battle at a Holi party
Um, that's more than amazing...I saw that on the movie Outsourced (I think) and thought it was funny, but man, to experience that in real life, perfect.
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