Journal

Holi Festival

Tarynne Mingione, March 24 2014

Sunday, March 16, 2014

To watch the preparation for the biggest celebration in India, we headed to the streets to get a feel for just how crazy the city of Jaipur was going to be.

Colors were sold in every single shop on even the dodgiest of side streets. Everyone was purchasing bags of neon powder, water guns, spray cans and white clothes.

The entire city looked like Party City and the anticipation was immaturely exciting!

We walked around the streets at dusk taking part in the Holika bonfires that transformed intersections into a blazing fire lit stages ready for anxious participants to dance, sing and prematurely throw colors.

Holi Day

The festival of colors, the festival of love.

The entire day was spent playing Holi.

We were told we played Holi quite well. I’m not sure if that means we are exceptionally tolerant of the hundreds of hands suffocating our faces with neon powders or what, but we had fun.

We were warned things would get out of hand, and of course just around noon they quickly turned gritty.

One older gentleman punched a man in the face on my behalf, a woman policeofficer beat a group of boys attacking me with a wooden pole. Later a male officer stood between us and the out of control crowds and ordered we leave the streets.

At the end of the day, we had a blast and ended up making it back to the hotel without getting into too much trouble.