Happy Holi

Yesterday was Holi, festival of colors. It celebrates spring and the slaying of a great daemon.

These pictures make it look amazing. Which it is. But what they don't tell is that it is also wayyyy overwhelming. I had fair warning and contemplated staying in for the day, but of course decided I wanted to experience it. So I ventured out mid morning wearing the white shirt I bought for the occasion. Within 3 minutes I had been doused with water, smacked in the face with colored pigments, and squirted with more paint.

All day the kids and the men run around with bags of bright colored powders and let me tell you they go straight for the face. Unabashedly. It surprised me how forward they were. Not trying to be polite or to make sure it didn't go in my mouth or anything. At first I felt self conscious, like: what do I even look like right now?! But then I told myself: Julia, you are a painting. And I started to like it.

I think it is good luck to touch a women on Holi and later I realized that I had not seen one Indian woman out and about. I gave out too many hugs and so many people smeared me with this stuff that I was absolutely caked.

I felt grateful for a cleansing dip in the Ganga and so relieved to get home in the afternoon. Took a hot shower and got myself grounded again with hot soup and chapatis on the porch.