Holi: Festival of Colors in Rishikesh

Holi. Festival of Colors. A rainbow color warfare like I'd never seen before in my life. We started in the morning around 8:30am in our cottage/hotel area. Some students got excited and ran to each door, knocking and giving us a fun surprise. Powder leapt from hands and onto pants, shirts, skin, beards, hair, and anywhere else it could stick. I was the recipient of one such surprise, though I was ready for it!

It was like a war zone inside our cottage when we left, or so I thought until our merry little band of yogis-in-training marched onward to Laxman Jhula, the small town 15 minutes to the North by the Ganges. That place was like Call of Duty: Holi Edition. An amalgam of multistory concrete buildings smashed together across a narrow street spanning a kilometer.

Little pockets of intense warfare littered the street. Balloons, sprayers, and big plumes of pink, green, blue, and gold being thrown into the air and your face by adults and kids alike. Balloons and soakers rained from above by little kids and women from the balconies. I can still hear the screams.

As what happens often in wartime, you get separated from your group. Our group of 20 turned into 10, and then 8. We all eventually made it to the endpoint in various stages, looking like a technicolored paintball victim and smelling of bright flowers (the powders are sometimes natural and smell good). I had a train to catch that afternoon so I ran all the way back to our cottage, dodging all of the hotspots and powder plumes as I did so. Almost all, anyway. Not everyone was violent about their holi powder; some nice people and gents came up and rubbed your cheeks, head, and/or beard with some powder and wished you well!

I didn't take any cameras with me as I wanted to enjoy the event fully and without worry. And I did. It was awesome. I want to do it again next year. If you have a chance to celebrate Holi...take it. You'll be pink and blue for a couple days afterward, but it's worth it! For more information on the holiday and its background, read the wiki on Holi. It's a nice lunar holiday and has a neat story about equality and new beginnings. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my Holi experience!

 

Tyler