Holi

Yesterday was the big day of Holi. For an explanation, see the previous blog entry. I am just going to share with you about our experiences through pictures. To begin with, here is the before shot. This is what Alicia and I looked like at 9 a.m. this morning - all nice and clean.

We began the morning by going to Mona’s parents’ house. They are a really sweet older couple. We “played Holi” with them, and got our first coating of color. Everyone says, “Happy Holi” and wipes color all over you.


We finished up the morning with a late breakfast, color and all.

Then Alicia, Lindsey, and I went to our student Deepa’s house. She lives in the colony where we teach English. Here is a picture of Deepa, the lane she lives on, and the view from her roof. This is the same lane from the water buffalo picture of the week.

As soon as we arrived, of course, they brought out food. Because it was a holiday, they make all these special snack foods. The funny thing is that these plates of food followed us throughout the day. Lol. I’ll show you what I am talking about later.


Next we proceeded upstairs to the roof to play Holi once again. All of the ladies, young and old alike joined in, and we all got really colored.





Then someone brought up a speaker and stereo and the dancing began. This may be a little known fact about to me, but I love to dance. It can’t get much better than an Indian dance party on the roof covered in color!






After we danced for awhile, up came the food again with “cold drinks” (how they refer to sodas). They were determined to keep us stuffed all day. As always, the Indian hospitality stands out strongly. Of course, eating was not an adequate reason to stop dancing...




We danced some more, and attempted to teach them the Electric Slide. I think it wasn’t quite exciting enough for them though. Then they decided it was time to play with colored water. So on top of our coloring, we all got soaked and danced some more. Here are some after shots.






By this time we were all pretty cold, so we all walked across the gulley to another rooftop that got more sun. Then we laid around to dry out.




Later, a neighbor auntie wanted to show off her own dance moves.


There was some drum playing and a little singing and a lot of just hanging out. And yes, the food showed up on the next roof too. They really can make you feel like you are a celebrity, even if you are just hanging out in a slum.




Alot of children showed up on the roof. There was some real cuties.






About 5:30, they fed Alicia and I an early meal which included chicken since it was a special occasion. Then we headed home. However, as we were getting into a taxi, the same herd of water buffalo from the other day was coming down the same lane. Apparently, they pass through the same time everyday. Lol. We tried to snap a picture again, but the buffalo were too fast and we missed it. Alicia had to jump in the car to keep from getting ran over.