Holi... survivor style!

The last three days have been complete madness in Kolkata. Holi, the Hindu festival of lights, is celebrated throughout India and even in many Hindu communities abroad. There are many myths that contribute to the current celebration of Holi, but one of the most well known is the love play of Krishna and Radha. Lord Krishna has often been portrayed as a naughty prankster in his childhood and a lover-boy in his youth. His beloved Radha and the cowherd girls 'Gopis' in general loved him even more for his pranks and eve teasing. The Holi of Braj is famous all over India for its intimate connection with the divine deities and their love plays. It is said that when Krishna was a young boy, he asked the reason for his dark color while Radha was so fair. His mother Yashoda playfully suggested that he should smear color on Radha's face too and change her complexion to any color he wanted. Captivated by the idea, Krishna proceeded to do so and thus, introduced the play of colors on Holi.

Well the Destiny team certainly honored Krishna and Radha this year. We bought the entire rainbow of paints, as well as pistons to spray out the color. After lunch on Saturday, we all headed to a nearby park and before I could put my purse down, the women were smearing paint in my hair and face! Total insanity ensued, running around trying to avoid getting sprayed with  lime green paint. When the colors ran out, we called it truce and went back to my apartment to wash off.

The next day, Sunday, was the Bengali celebration of Holi. As I was walking to church, a group of small children attacked me with paints. So the nuns just laughed when I entered the church with  bright pink cheeks and hair. Afterwards, I went to the park near Smarita's house. Her brother belongs to a local club, like an Elks club, and they had organized a Holi party at the park. After a dance troupe performed, we all went on stage and danced while the kids threw colors in the air. It was like dancing in colorful rain! 

I finally made it home, to another shower, but even today 3 showers I'm still finding green in my hair and yellow in my ears!