Comments on: In Tune with Holi Memories

By: Debnev

Debnev — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:36:10 +0000

Thanks SC! It sounds like wicked fun. Bhang… so THAT’s the stuff the guy in the video is drinking! (If it’s anything like a lassi with intoxicants, I’m in!) The Western festivals of Mardi Gras and Carnivale seem to have some things in common with Holi. Spring is indeed a time to let loose. We could use a bit more of that spirit up here in the dreary, cold Northeast.

By: Neena

Neena — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 04:04:12 +0000

How some men have everythin, LOL!

Women tear off the clothes of men as they play huranga in Dauji temple near the northern Indian town of Mathura March 12, 2009. Huranga is a game played between men and women a day after the Holi festival during which men drench women with liquid colors and women tear off the clothes of the men.

Its a third pic from top

Have you noticed how not one woman is interested in seeing a man naked.

By: vivek

vivek — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:05:49 +0000

One year I was in Delhi for Holi and was set upon by the boys (at my cousin’s urging) in our neighbourhood. At one point, there were four or five of them hanging onto me and smearing paint (yes, paint, not this fragrant powder) all over my face. I felt fingers in my ears, and one finger was simulating a toothbrush. It took about 2-3 days for all the stuff to come out

It is a great holiday, especially for kids. You can throw colour/water on elders, random strangers without danger of retribution. Of course, when I got older, I discovered bhang

By: manhandledatholi

manhandledatholi — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:49:10 +0000

Coming from Kerala where there is no Holi wasn’t sure what to expect on my first Holi in Delhi. One of the janitors at my hostel -totally drunk on bhang- caught me in a bear hug while we were going around in a group spraying color. (woman from a non-hugging family. Not even my father had hugged me till then.) Spent the rest of the day in confusion and embarrassment – whether it was proper for a strange man to hug a woman, did I unintentionally invite his hug, was he using Holi to indulge in his lecherous impulses, what anywone who witnessed the hug would have thought of me …..

By: Sonya

Sonya — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:12:13 +0000

Come to the Stanford ASHA holi at Stanford on March 28th and celebrate the North Indian way!!! Our northern california adoption group has been celebrating holi at this event for the last 6 years! It is a fabulous, rock out holi. One year, one of the white security guards told me that next year he was not going to be working at the event but playing holi with the rest of us.

Details here: http://www.ashanet.org/stanford/events/holi2009/index.html

By: Fish out of water

Fish out of water — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:18:19 +0000

If you are planning a trip to Thailand next month be sure you are there for the Songkran festival, a Thai derivative of Holi (without the colored powder though, they use only white powder). Like Holi it is a lot of fun and it is not uncommon to see people filling up huge tanks of water and riding in the back of pick up trucks dousing people with water. The fact that Songkran is celebrated during the hottest part of Thai summer makes it all the more fun (it runs every year from April 13-15 and is the only time when Bangkok traffic is bearable.

By: SC

SC — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:57:01 +0000

Oh yeah, you pronounce it “Holy”.

By: SC

SC — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:43:29 +0000

Hey Debnev! Holi is the Festival of Colors, a major spring festival that is particularly popular in North India. Although it is originally a Hindu festival, everyone enjoys it regardless of creed or caste or color. I think it also coincides with Id and the Sikh New Year, so it's definitely a big event in India.

Everyone gets pelted with colored powders or colored water - bright dyes like red, yellow, purple and pink. Most people wear old clothes on Holi in anticipation of getting colors thrown on them and returning the favor. And of course, people drink bhang, a spicy, milky drink that is laced with cannabis. The festival celebrates the coming of spring, and the fertility and high spirits that spring brings.

By: Debnev

Debnev — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:12:22 +0000

As a non-brown, non-South Asian person, this is the first I’ve heard of Holi (how do you say it, Holly or Holy or something else?), and I’m so happy to learn about it, Sandhya. I’d like to know more–looks like fun. (Except for the miffed young woman in the video who isn’t so pleased that the cute singing, dancing guy is showering the beautiful woman with the extraordinarily long braid with so much attention….! Love those zoom-in shots… yes, yes we get it! she’s pissed!) Obviously I can’t comment on Holi, but comments here remind me that our childhood memories of holidays are among our most cherished memories, and for many of us adults, holidays are no longer as magical or as much fun. I know you guys have the cultural disconnect getting in the way for you, but for me, you know, even a holiday such as Halloween just isn’t the same as it was when I was a kid. So, OK, tell me, what’s Holi all about?

By: Radhika

Radhika — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 02:04:10 +0000

I adore Holi! We had a HUGE celebration at a park near my house in Houston. Over 8000 people showed up, and it was definitely multicult. Black, white, brown,Latino, Asian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu…it was amazing.