On a regular day, the courtyard of our complex looks like this:
Very empty and tidy and no one is allowed to get near the little ponds and there are fish and frogs swimming around in them. And don't even think about putting a chair on the immaculate lawn.
But this past weekend, India celebrated Holi, the festival of colors. Maybe you've seen it in photos or in the movie Outsourced.
But that was just the warm up. Sunday was the real deal, people smear or throwing brightly-colored dyes all over each other, they shoot each other with water guns, spray hoses, or just dump entire buckets over people's heads. There was plenty of food and dance and music performers and, best of all, we all got to swim in the fish ponds for hours and hours and hours.
I only had the camera with me for a short while because I was so nervous it would get ruined (remember the buckets of colored water dumped on people's heads? Yeah, well, I received and gave out my fair share of those), but that means I have NO pictures of our friends who came to visit Kolkata for the weekend. Jen and Jer worked together at DG and she is now living in Delhi for two years with her fiance Glen. The kids were huge fans although it took them awhile to get their names straight ("Which one is Glenifer again, Mom?").
Very empty and tidy and no one is allowed to get near the little ponds and there are fish and frogs swimming around in them. And don't even think about putting a chair on the immaculate lawn.
But this past weekend, India celebrated Holi, the festival of colors. Maybe you've seen it in photos or in the movie Outsourced.
Saturday was pretty tame, just a few water fights, a bonfire and a few (excruciating) hours of live music (at top volume) at night.
But that was just the warm up. Sunday was the real deal, people smear or throwing brightly-colored dyes all over each other, they shoot each other with water guns, spray hoses, or just dump entire buckets over people's heads. There was plenty of food and dance and music performers and, best of all, we all got to swim in the fish ponds for hours and hours and hours.
We loved it. L. was ecstatic to find a few frogs still swimming around in the pond!
Five hours of swimming in purple water kind of wears a kid out, though.
I only had the camera with me for a short while because I was so nervous it would get ruined (remember the buckets of colored water dumped on people's heads? Yeah, well, I received and gave out my fair share of those), but that means I have NO pictures of our friends who came to visit Kolkata for the weekend. Jen and Jer worked together at DG and she is now living in Delhi for two years with her fiance Glen. The kids were huge fans although it took them awhile to get their names straight ("Which one is Glenifer again, Mom?").
We pretty much loved everything about Holi. It was awesome. We still have pinkish purplish patches on our hair and skin, so we fit in around town. I think we need to find a way to import this holiday back in the US. Fire dance and all:
3 comments:
We had a fantastic time! Everything is pink though...my bra, my camera (yes it survived), my pillowcases. Hope we didn't leave the bathroom too much of a disaster. Thanks for having us over. It was so great to meet you and the kids. You have such a beautiful family! xxoo
That looks amazing! Apparently they had a Holi festival in Queens that we missed, but I doubt there were ponds of purple water with frogs. That looks like so much fun!
I've heard of this/seen movies depicting it. It looks so cool and fun! Glad there are some happy India memories for you and the kiddos.
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