Holi 2009 and years before that

We celebrated Holi 2009 in Holiday Inn, San Jose.

As a child I have memories of that excitement on the night before Holi. I would prepare for 'holika dahan' in our 'aangan' by layering the 'balguriya' (small dried cakes of cow dung put together in strings - widely used in rural India as a fuel) in shape of a pyramid. Around that pyramid I would make a 'rangoli' (floor art) of 'abeer, gulal, haldi, kumkum and aata (green and pink colors, turmeric powder and flour). We would prepare 'puja thali' with 'ghujia', other delicacies made specially for this occasion and set it next to the pyramid. We would go to bed in the midst of holi songs being played outside on street shops. Next day early morning Papa would go to 'holika dahan' at the 'chowk' and bring the 'agni' (amber) from there to burn 'holika' (the pyramid I made the night before) in our 'aangan' . My Dadi and mother would perform Puja and then we would go in circles around the pyramid with the fresh stalks of wheat in our hands and roasting it on the fire . Afterwards we would sit around it savoring a cup of chai and enjoying the heat on that cold March morning of Holi. Later in the morning neighbors and friends would knock on the doors to play with colors, not always a pleasant experience . For children it was not a problem though. We always enjoyed coloring and getting colored. In my town there is a Holi parade where bands would be playing and people in masks would be dancing away. We would stock up on pales of colored water, balloons filled with colored water on the rooftop and throw it on those people and yeah....they would respond back with their high pressure water guns . As much fun as it was to play with colors, getting it off was so not it. My mom would make 'ubtan' (a mix of gram flour and mustard oil) to help us get rid of it but it was difficult to get it all off completely and as result , for 'Holi milan' that evening all kids would like monkeys with those faded colores on faces even in our nicest clothes. We would feast on puri, kachauri, curry, raita, ghujia, rasgulla and a lot of other treats. That was Holi at my house. After I moved out for studies, I enjoyed celebrating Holi at my friends home, in college, in hostel with almost same fun and not much difference.

I considered it fun and that's exactly what we had this Holi too. Neev loved it so much, he still cannot stop mentioning holi once a day whenever I say the word 'color'. Avi was so thrilled that a couple of times he took fistful of gulal and smeared it on himself. He made a few friends and enjoyed coloring them and dancing away on Bollywood music. It was quite a day as we also had to go to a birthday party in the evening . Luckily getting the colors off was not tough as they were all dry ones. As the kids fell asleep in the car on the way to 'Jump it up' , I got reminded of long nap we used to take on holi afternoon as they used to say 'रंगों में नशा होता है !"।