Playing Holi

Let's start this off frankly. I don't really know what Holi celebrates. It's something about the homecoming of some Deity or king after recapturing his wife from his rival in the neighboring kingdom now know as sri lanka, or something or other.
Here's the link Wiki Holi.

Ok, forget all that. Holi is a holiday which is fun as hell. People throw colored powder all over each other and then have to spend about two days washing it all off. It's a day when enemies can approach each other, and don't really get mad about stupid things. Furthermore, there is a killer drink made of milk and marijuana. This is a little harder to find than I'd thought. I sadly did not partake this time. I'm told from those more experienced that this drink is really tasty, but the hangover from it is pretty rough. A friend of mine told me you can sleep nearly 24 hours straight if you drink too much of it. Well, I couldn't find it, my host couldn't find it, and I had an 8AM train to catch the next day. So I forewent said amazing drink. Perhaps next Holi...

Well, I couldn't let the entire holiday pass me up. I had to go get colored. Quick side note, it's a funny way to say things... Indians become colored. It brings up less than pleasant notions about racial categorizations in Apartheid South Africa...

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about Apartheid or racial issues, I'm here to talk about getting my freaking face and arms and body covered in fun colored powder. My sister and I went in search of this. So we were trolling around the campus of IISc (Indian Institute of Science, where I'd applied for a job about a year ago). We saw some kids that were all painted up and decided to join them. My sister said, "You have colors?"
The response was

"You want to play Holi?"
We answered with a resounding "YES!"
To which our new friends responded by painting our faces and rubbing colored powder all through our hair and on our arms. Damn good time. It was amazing walking around campus and Bangalore afterward that day. Everyone was really pleased and amused to see the two foreigners who had played Holi.

What made the day for me (besides the amazing dosa at CTR for breakfast) was the fact that everyone says "play Holi" they don't say "celebrate Holi." Celebrations generally involve lots of prayers and formal rituals and generally aren't that fun. Holi is supposed to a playful holiday, and play we did. What fun, what fun. I haven't gotten so dirty on purpose in years. I wish it were an American Holiday! Perhaps I'll celebrate it next year wherever I am just because it's awesome. Here are some pics of me, my sister, and some random folks who we got to play Holi with.