Medley of colors

HOLI-The Festival of colors!!! Just another festival that brings together people from different cultures together! This festival has always bought sweet memories associated with Kalyan (the place where I live). We used to have holi celebrations in our society. The house smelled off sweets such as Puran-polis and naral polis (Rotis made out of cocunut). Every year my cousins used to come at our place to celebrate this festival. At that time, I hated playing with colors but loved playing with water filled baloons. On one such occassion, I had recovered from chicken-pox, so doctor had advised me not to play. Much against mom's wishes, I coaxed her into letting me play with water only. Mumbai guys were notorious in that way! I shuddered looking at them play with oil-paints and mud water. Yuck!!!! All of us (in sixth or seventh grade) used to lock ourselves on the terrace so that no 'bad-guys" would be able to come and color us. Meanwhile, we enjoyed throwing baloons at them!! We were mean sometimes! I used to jump with joy if the water filled baloon hit someone on the face or on the back. It was equally annoying to see someone throw baloons at old people and little kids. We took care to hit baloons only on college boys or men :))) Things changed once I came to US. I thought, there would be no festivals. Forget colors. Nothing is going to be the same anymore. But, I was wrong! We played holi just the way it should be played. Last saturday, we had a Holi bash here. Pics have been edited for privacy issues:)) There were COLORS AND THERE WERE INDIANS: AND THEN THERE WERE AMERICANS TOO: (Dont we all look the same now) THERE WAS DANCE TOO. It was amazing to see the amroos dance to "Kajra re". Thats why they say, music knows no language. AND THEN THERE WAS FOOD: Although, I dont think I can ever make Puran polis..the way I have always eaten..I made this dessert that goes by the name of Shahi-tukde. Don't know how it tasted, coz it was over even before I got to it! And then there was chaat and eating the food together while sitting on the grass! No wonder, barbeques are more popular than banquet dinners! There is some kind of innate pleasure in sitting together and eating in this manner. For the first time, I saw some amroos eating with their fingers (except for when they eat burgers and burritos) . None asked for fork, knifes and paper towels. Its nice to see people adapting to each other's culture and just being a part of them! One guy even asked me "I dont know how to apply this color. DO you apply it to the cheek or do you apply it to the hair"?? "I like green color. Please apply some green color on me". One guy even said 'Are you guys always happy and enjoying life like this" I obviously had no answer to that. And I wish it was always that way. But, I thought it was nice to project your culture in this manner to someone who was not totally aware of how things function in your country! Lastly, I think festivals are just a medium to bring together people when they are busy doing things of their own. Maybe sometimes, we do things coz we have always been doing it that way. Festivals might not always mean the same for different people. But, neverthless, festivals make us realize that we belong!!! Colors are always the same...even if the soil is different! ********HAPPY HOLI GUYS*******