Holi Warriors

March 11th was a holiday for those of us in Delhi, to celebrate the Hindu festival of colors, Holi.  Holi goes on for a day or two - even the weekend before, Devindar and I got water-balooned in old Delhi, and you'd see people here and there smeared with vibrant colors.  But, the big to-do was the morning of the 11th.  This year, there were more expats and friends around, so we had a little mixer at Essel, with all of the staff and us participating.  Smearing your friends and family with colors is a form of well-wishing for the upcoming year; supposedly the colors were once ayurvedic powders, meant to foster good health.  Everyone at Essel was well and truly in the mood.  Devindar got me good with the colors, or gulal, the night before when he dropped me off, and then in the morning, everyone was up and at 'em fairly early, smearing each other with the colored powder.  We took the party outside and it quickly became a water fight, complete with squirt guns, buckets, and a hose.  It was a blast!  So much fun.  The whole neighborhood was out and about and having a good time.  It made me realize that there are just some underlying truisms to human celebrations worldwide.  The Holi party we had resonated strongly with the egg dyeing, water fights and egg tosses held on Montgomery and Mackh lawns over the past 30 or more years.  It's spring, and Muslims, Christians, and Hindus alike are celebrating the themes of renewal, growth and the end of winter.  We topped our morning off with homemade samosas from Abdul, very special lassis, and a good long nap.  I had no complaints...ah, spring!