Holi: Festival of colors

First, a little cultural background: The Festival of Holi marks the advent of spring with varying religious rites, depending on which area you’re in. Here in the South, although there’s no real “winter” to end, the celebrations were still in full swing. The common hallmark of Holi is the throwing of colored powders and water on everyone around.

Last night, I ventured off on a walk… outside the gate, and was intercepted by our driver, Lokesh, who insisted he accompany me. I think I must be getting used to being “handled” as it didn’t seem like a bad idea. It was a very different experience than life here in Palm Meadows, which is located in something like a suburb of Bangalore called Whitefield. As a side note, the other day Lokesh told me that they call it Whitefield because there are so many foreigners… hence, white-field. I doubt this to be true, but do believe that Lokesh believes it to be the case. At any rate, Lokesh and I continued on the walk into the town outside the gate where festival celebrations were in full swing. I was the only white person in a crowd of hundreds of people (no Whitefield here!). Two little girls came up and wanted to shake my hand, and another little girl ran up to me, touched my arm, giggled and ran off. Most people just stared. It was an interesting festival, part county fair, part religious rite, part just all-out party. I didn’t totally get all that was going on, and felt a bit out of place, but enjoyed seeing a more authentic side of my new home-town.

Today in Palm Meadows, they had their own celebration of Holi right here at the Phase 2 Children’s Park. Seemed like a good way to check out the morning festivities. The part that tells you I didn’t know what was coming is that I took a shower before heading to the park…

Caden eased into things with a small mark…And, newly armed with a colored water gun, quickly got more involved from there!

Even I ended up involved in the fun…

And Caden had a great day.

At the end of it all, some of the paints were washable, and some weren’t… Caden’s hair remains a shade of green that makes me not look forward to his teenage years. But we had good fun, and it’s hard to imagine a mess like that happening in MN so it definitely fits the “experience” category!