Holi Hai
The colour of spring is here, love is in the air and it is time to celebrate Holi.
"This festival does not recognize bars of caste, class or creed. Drenched in colours everybody comes to resemble each other, all differences dissolve in the colours that flow in plenty." Well, I would doubt that anybody would think Jerry and this lad resemble each other even with the pink dusting but, the friendliness that was expressed was more free flowing on this day than we have experienced on others. This celebrant and his friends were happy to share colour with Jerry - it was lovingly touched to his face and head followed by a bear hug - and, of course, the photo op. Maybe intoxicant was imbibed that helped diminish the natural boundaries somewhat but we felt no ill will from this encounter.
We were cautioned that too much alcohol was consumed on this holiday and things sometimes got out of control. Our driver was very agitated as Jerry and I tromped through clusters of people, photographing the Chattarpur Mandir temple - He had not really intended for us to get out of the car at this location and seemed to be in quite a lather about something happening to us on his watch. Initially he drove very slowly, following us up the street in the car, he eventually found a parking spot and followed us on foot until we got just the right angle on this giant statue of Hanuman (Monkey God) and agreed to move to safer ground.
Hanuman
Krishna
Our hosts from the Lalit Hotel project, after much discussion, advised the best place for us to experience Holi was at the Iskcon Temple where the colour was expressed in flowers rather than water and dye. It was beautiful, peaceful and full of ceremony. (It was not what we were expecting in keeping with Holi celebrations.)
The colour in the altar displays was stunningly beautiful.
Ganesha
After all of this the display that touched me the most was this one of Lord Ganesha with the dried up flower garland, placed against a tree amongst broken icons, at the side of the garbage strewn road.
This beast was in the middle of the road, at a busy intersection, with his heard - including a nursing calf. I so wanted a picture of that but didn't dare step out of the car in that chaotic space of honking, edging vehicles and zipping motorcycles, where cows have the right of way and people... well, people need to fend for themselves.
