Yesterday was Holi -- the Festival of Color. This festival involves a rainbow of brightly colored powder (originally made from ground up flowers), which is then thrown at revelling Holi participants. The color is sold in local markets (I have pictures of color piles at stalls in the Devaraja Market in Mysore). Though Holi is more of a northern India festival we celebrated it here at Shanti Bhavan after convincing our acting principal, Miss Beena, of the festival's academic and physical education value. The 11th and 12th graders were allowed to particpate with the volunteers.
Another volunteer named Rashmi and I were busy prepping 10th grade Biology students for their ICSC exam all weekend, so we arrived at the Holi battlefield a bit late. By the time we got there water had already been added to the mix. Immediately I noticed that there was a serious lack of ammo for the volunteers as the students had commandeered the water buckets and the color. We quickly realized we would be the hunted instead of the hunters. (It's only appropraite after all the tests and homework we gave the students, right?!) Before I knew it, bright blue and hot pink were walloped at me from right and left. One of my 11th grade Biology and Environmental Science students, Praveen, then took it upon himself to drench me in dark navy blue color after he chased me around and finally wore me out. In the end, the kids and volunteers were completely covered in tye dye color head to toe. In fact, we are all still washing the pink and blue out of our nail beds, hands, feet, and hair.
I am so glad I was able to spend Holi with the students of Shanti Bhavan. I doubt any of us will ever forget it. And a BIG thank you to Miss Beena. We promise all the blue and pink spots that were not reached with our scrubbing will eventually come out of the assembly courtyard walls. Also thank you to Justin and Lorenza who treked to Hosur to buy the color for the fun. Had we known that one color packet was enough for four buckets of water...well, we all would be a lot less colorful right now. (We miss you both already. You are amazing people and I know on behalf of all the volunteers, we are lucky to now call you our friends. Safe and happy travels to you.) Happy Holi everyone!
Another volunteer named Rashmi and I were busy prepping 10th grade Biology students for their ICSC exam all weekend, so we arrived at the Holi battlefield a bit late. By the time we got there water had already been added to the mix. Immediately I noticed that there was a serious lack of ammo for the volunteers as the students had commandeered the water buckets and the color. We quickly realized we would be the hunted instead of the hunters. (It's only appropraite after all the tests and homework we gave the students, right?!) Before I knew it, bright blue and hot pink were walloped at me from right and left. One of my 11th grade Biology and Environmental Science students, Praveen, then took it upon himself to drench me in dark navy blue color after he chased me around and finally wore me out. In the end, the kids and volunteers were completely covered in tye dye color head to toe. In fact, we are all still washing the pink and blue out of our nail beds, hands, feet, and hair.
I am so glad I was able to spend Holi with the students of Shanti Bhavan. I doubt any of us will ever forget it. And a BIG thank you to Miss Beena. We promise all the blue and pink spots that were not reached with our scrubbing will eventually come out of the assembly courtyard walls. Also thank you to Justin and Lorenza who treked to Hosur to buy the color for the fun. Had we known that one color packet was enough for four buckets of water...well, we all would be a lot less colorful right now. (We miss you both already. You are amazing people and I know on behalf of all the volunteers, we are lucky to now call you our friends. Safe and happy travels to you.) Happy Holi everyone!
Glad you got to experience Holi!
ReplyDeleteVery, very, very, very jealous...