No, I am not present anywhere in this picture, however coloured I might be. These are just some bunch of hooligans throwing colours on each other and making fools of themselves. Atleast that is how anyone playing Holi is perceived to be by the very esteemed (read boring) general public in Chennai. I'll tell you what; we 'Madrasis' must hand it over to the 'Northies' for the way they celebrate their festivals and festivities. Complete extravagance and undiluted fun.
Holi is no exception. The colours are diverse and plentiful, you are given the license to do anything to apply an extra colour on someone's already emblazoned face or torso or tooth, and amidst all this atleast one sweet comes your way every ten seconds, followed by some 'bhang' filled 'thandai'. Now tell me, in which festival in Chennai would your dad hand you a glass of milk mixed with a derivative of Cannabis? Yes, 'bhang' is a derivative of Cannabis. My good friend who grew up in Hyderabad, but who now lives in Chennai says, 'In Hyderabad, on holi day one can get on to the roads and apply some colour on anyone they fancy. And it would all be taken in the right spirit'. I'd love to see someone in Chennai apply a speck of pink on the white and starched shirt of any Ramalingam Chettiar - B.A L.L.B., MCom., AISSCE., SSLC as he sits back in his white ambassador on the way to court.
Luckily for me, blessed with friends who have immigrated from those northern lands of festivities, I do get to indulge in such extravagance every now and then despite being in Chennai. And today was one such occassion. And as we bunch of friends took a break from our holi games, one of them tutored us on the story behind the coinage of the word 'holiday' in the English language. Apparently in one village in North India long ago, the British noticed that none of the people were working one day, but were instead celebrating something. When asked why, the people responded, 'Because today is 'Holi' day'. And thus was appended yet another word to the Queen's vocabulary from the illiterate farmlands of India. Well, that story was my friend's own creation, lest you go through the annals of Colonial India (yes, bhang is known to have such effects on people).
As a last note, bhang is believed to also freshen the intellect and give alertness to the body and gaiety to the mind. How else did you think a new post came up here after all these days? In fact, even as I write this, I am getting enlightened on the origins of 'holiness', 'holism', 'hole',... I better stop. Happy Holi!
PS: The above picture is not mine, but was pilfered from this location. You see, now I don't want to be sued by someone through Mr. Ramalingam Chettiar - B.A L.L.B., MCom., AISSCE., SSLC
