Holi Hai !!!

Holi our festival of colors is one of the much awaited festivals in India. Each Indian revels during this festival in his own special way and that’s a sight to feast on.

But I have a general feeling that as we move out of our country, we tends to just give our festivals a miss or do not celebrate it in the same fervor that we would usually do in India. Did u know that in Kuwait, Hinduism is not considered a religion (as it does not have a single (only) book to follow for faith like the Bible / Quran) and there are no temples in the country?

Anyway, the legalities and controversies apart, today is 4th of Mach 07, and today is Holi, so I thought of asking my brethren in office of what they think of Holi in the Middle East. (Extra Note: On the contrary, Diwali is usually much anticipated as a festival of lights with crackers and sweets, and the government here is very much tolerant when it comes to bursting crackers and creating all that air and noise pollution on the D Day)

To start off with an amusing instance with one of my colleague; he got a mail from his friend from India wishing him Holi, and his immediate reply to him was: Holi aaj hai?
Rest we can guess. This seems to be this one guy who would be seen leading a toli (crowd) of painted faces on the streets on the Holi morning, if he were in India. Times change and so do places and the ambiance I think.

Another Mota Bhai (Big Brother in Gujrati), calls it a normal day at work, but off course with sweets authentically from India, would have love to indulge in Holi if in India. I just wonder, what stops us? I don’t know the answer even myself!

We also have holi enthusiasts here!! My two women colleagues are very cheerful when it comes to elaborate. One of them has been in Kuwait for almost 12 years and its like home to her, she is a member of an Indian association and they celebrate all the Indian festivals with all its flavours. “We have all the fun that we could possibly have in India or maybe more, we dance, play colors, gorge on Indian sweets (gujiyas to be precise) and indulge in pure harmless woman gossip to top it up!” she reminisces of her holi party on last Friday (2nd March)

Another colleague, has many ideas to share, she wants to hit the beach this coming Friday to play colors and dip people into the chilly waters! And definitely eat a lot of gujiyas that her two block away neighbor will bring to her”
She nostalgically misses the ‘yellow tinge’ of Gulaal on her carpet from the Holi visits, Several washes of the painted faces and still coming out of the shower magenta red, getting hit by water balloons and walking cautiously on the streets for all that color that comes splashing on you from nowhere! Phew! I miss that too! This just got me thinking, I love my festivals! I love my country; we usually take that for granted!

One of my female colleagues, does not like playing with colors, most of us don’t if we are in India, as now a days colors can range from harsh to harshest, if smeared thoughtlessly. So holi for her is about missing her folks and friends back home and off course recollecting those sweet and syrupy memories of all the goodies that mom made especially for Holi.

Now this gets me thinking, I miss a lot of things, my country, the fervor, festivals, MOM, sweets… wow… the list gets longer, but I call Kuwait home for now.. will I ever be able to patch up and catch up with the Indian side of me? I think I will leave it to today’s evening. (I always have something cooking you see!)

Happy holi folks, may it bring for you all the colors that it can (more than your plasma TV can offer!!)

(in Arabic: Alyoum Holi)