Holi - the festival of colours

A riot of colours as I would like to put it, this is one festival that has remained a fascination, an enigma for a malayali like me to this day. It heralds the arrival of spring after a long, harsh winter and nature, herself, proclaims it by generously adorning the trees and plants with colourful flowers and blossoms. There is a vibrant air of expectancy, all around, as people look forward to the beginning of the festival season.
It was in spring ’73 that I was exposed to this festival, for the first time while at Pune, when I was a first termer at the NDA. I must admit that I was exposed to the ‘naughtier’ version of playing initially, that day and my instant reaction was that of revulsion. Earlier, in the days preceding ‘Holi’, I was struck by a few of my seniors strategizing as to how they should play it with the Kapoors(Mr. Kapoor was a civilian contractor supplying the cadets’ uniforms at the academy). On the day of Holi, the Kapoors who were passing by on their scooter, were stopped by the cadets and it was a free-for-all, with the majority of the guys making a beeline for applying colours on the hapless lady- she was indeed pretty- with Mr. Kapoor standing beside helplessly! Subsequent play with colours amongst us cadets, irrespective of seniority, was a great experience. Over the years, I’ve had some wonderful experiences especially on board the ships that I’d commanded, at INS Hamla where I was on a laughing binge thanks to a generous intake of ‘bhang’, at INS Agrani, Coimbatore(it was here that my coursemate, Sampath Kumar, died of a tragic accident on a ‘Holi’ afternoon) and at Haldia with the Banerjees, where I learnt to play it with the elders and cherish those moments even to this day.
Tomorrow, our servant maid, Meena and her family would be the first to play colours with us – I’ve always observed with amusement as to how her children linger on to us that extra minute while applying colours as they don’t get a chance to mess up with their ‘saabji’ or ‘memsaabji’ everyday- followed by a few of my close friends. We shall not step out of the house by any chance. May the festival of colours bring health, wealth and happiness to every home of this great nation.
PS. And the sweet ‘gujiya’ associated with the festival is something that I’m fond of!
Tailpiece.
1. On this occasion, one feels bad for the quake-hit Chilean and Haitian people who’ve suffered a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. It’s a sincere hope that timely help would reach the needy and the process of rehabilitation and reconstruction would take off on a war footing. A tear and a prayer for the thousands of unfortunate people who lost their lives in the catastrophe.
2. Today was ‘Attukal Pongala’ – a ceremony attended by lakhs of women devotees epicentred at the Attukal temple, about three kms from the heart of Thiruvananthapuram city. The devotees, make ‘payasam’ made of rice and jaggery on temporarily collected stones and firewood, that act as makeshift stoves and offer it to the goddess. The event marks the victory of the goddess over a demon king and occurs around the Ides of March, every year. Almost all the ladies from my amma’s family- except for amma as she was looking after achan- had taken part in the event.
3. And the heavy woollens after wash and airdrying have gone back into the cupboards for yet another winter.