So many legends, great number of rituals, myriad hues ofcolors, varieties of delicacies, lists of Do's andDon'ts....a must holiday in all calendars in India.... aday that the Gulmohar, the Dhak (Palash), the cuckoo waitfor and make the people from eight to eighty eagerly wait.The deities wait, the devotees wait, the colors wait, theflowers wait, the buyers wait, the sellers wait and ofcourse the water, air and soil do wait for the Holi, themost plural among the Indian festivals. Its Holi because she-demon Holika was burnt this day whileshe was trying to annihilate Prahllad. Holi because, LordKrishna tried to deal with his own inferiority complex (over the dark complexion) by smearing colors on thefair-skinned Radha, its Holi because Lord Shiva had smashedKamadev through his Third Eye ( while Kamdev was trying tomake Shiva aware about his worldly responsibilities afterthe self-immolation of Sati ). Its Holi because we associateourselves with these legends, want to take a break andreally need to add some colors to the routine life be itthrough man-made colors only! Its again Holi because we inthe newsroom wait for our reporters to send theHoli-stories, both routine and off-the-routine. The routine stories have been associating themselves with thePichkari and Gulal, the attempts of some people to make thecelebration eco-friendly, the literary and cultural shows,Holi-specific food festivals, the celebrities and politiciansspending some time with the aam-admi, Holika-Dahan etc. Butthere are some reports that took me away from the routine. It was about Alok Malhotra of Kanpur who becomes busy incollecting soil from the birthplaces of martyrs, mixingthose with the colors for the Holi-day...... A deaf and dumbold lady has been smearing colors on Radha-Krishna sincelast thirty years in Patiali-Sarai in Badayun town of UP......A village in Burdwan district of Bengal celebrates Holiseven days after the whole country gets drenched in colors.There is a history behind. Mahaprabhu Chaitanya, whileplaying Holi in his native Nabadwip, suddenly remembered hisintimate friend in Burdwan. Chaitanya started walking andfinally arrived at the friend's place a week after the Holi.It was night time. The village played with colors the wholenight after Sri Chaitanya's arrival. The tradition continuestill date... And interestingly, there is practically nogulal-play in Mayapur in Nadia of Bengal, the place of SriChaitanya. Holi is all about special prayers and Kirtanhere. ............... Dalmau in Uttar Pradesh does not get colored as the thenking Dal was killed in a decisive battle on thisday......The residents of Sonagir in Datia of MadhyaPradesh have never eye-witnessed Holi due to presence ofJains in this communally sensitive town. People in Bikanerof Rajasthan don't use colors on the Holi day. Rather theyfill water in Dholchi (containers made from Camel hide)and throw it on one another, thus giving the name'Dholchimar Holi'. This is a 500 year old tradition thatcame into practice to bridge the gap between rival Vyasand Harsha communities. For the insiders of Tagore'sShantiniketan, Holi brings the 'Basant Utsav' and plethoraof cultural program. In Orissa, idols of Radha and Krishnaare taken in special palanquins from different villagesand are assembled in the Milan-ground where the massworshiping of deities take place. It is the traditionalDola-Milan which has similarities with the Bengali Dola. What more? I am getting breathless....Apart from thesespecial Holi stories, we are gifted with with greatvisuals from across India, most catching ones being fromMathura, Vrindavan, Barsana, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Dakor etc.A unique 'Holika Dahan' in Gwalior where people burnt the Gutka pouches and cigarette packets with an appeal to lead atobacco-free life. Similar anti-smoking campaigns were undertaken bypeople in Junagarh of Gujarat too. The people in Gorakhpur boycotted Holiin protest against the recent killings of north Indians in Assam. InAyodhya, the festival was used to express solidarity with Sarabjit Singh (the man who faces death sentence for allegedly masterminding bomb blastsin Pakistan ). The day held significance for almost allIndians. And more for the foreigners for whom this Indianfestival is a visual delight. And after all is it not thefestival that has contributed two words 'Pichkari' and 'Gulal'to the 'foreign' vocabulary?
