The morning of Holi, Ajaybhai and Sunilbhai texted/called me to let me know that everyone had gathered at Manav Sadhna. As soon as Claire and I arrived, Sunilbhai was waiting behind the gate door, greeting everyone that entered with a face-full of color. We danced around to the dhol beats, celebrating with the NGO kids and staff.
Then, we departed, 2 or 3 to a motorcycle, to go to Virenbhai's house. Virenbhai is one of the founders of Manav Sadhna--he lives for a year in the US, managing Manav Sadhna's Chicago branch, and a year in India. Anyway, as we rode down the street, we shouted "HOLI HAI!!!" to any other well-colored person we saw. The chant was always reciprocated immediately. We stopped by a couple houses, picked up a couple more friends, piled them on the motorcycles, and our gang reached Virenbhai's, slightly wetter and slightly more colored than we had been before.
Sandeepbhai, Sunilbhai, and I, respectively, are on the far side. Ajaybhai and Claire in the middle. Raghubhai, a volunteer I just met, and Anjali closest.
That's when the fun really started. Little did I know that Virenbhai's house is pretty much perfect for masterminded Holi attacks. Shaped in rectangle, the terrace is the perfect place to line up buckets of colored water and target people down below. The corners seem to be made for hiding around, and the little shades popping out of the side of the house are perfect to make a naive first-timer think s/he is safe by standing underneath (really, there is a perfect terrace position for a bucketful of water on anyone's head down below). Right outside of the gate, there is a perfect little ditch where mudwater collects in exactly the right amount to form a mud puddle in which to dunk people. There are ample sources of taps and hoses and buckets and drainwater all around the house, and if those are all taken, don't worry, you can just jump the wall to the neighbor's house and get some water there. Once you have some water, just mix it with anything you can find--I made a lovely concoction of pink color, flower petals, and mud, and the resulting consistency was glorious for coloring others.
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Some good ole' fashioned mud dunking: Bhaskarbhai and Sandeepbhai
After about 2 hours of coloring and alliance-shifting and drenching each other from head to toe (and the guys forcibly dunking each other in the mud pool), Virenbhai very convincingly said "prathna time!" So, we all gathered around to say an all-religion prayer before, we thought, food was going to be brought out. Of course, however, Sunilbhai was hiding up on the terrace, and a huge bucket of water poured down on the entire circle of people and the Dhuleti continued for another hour. Then, finally, a real prathna was said and big pots of pav-bhaaji were brought out, with M&Ms and Kaju Katri for dessert. We sat basking in the sun, drying off, and sharing big thaalis of food, as we always do at Manav Sadhna. Of course, the eating didn't last long--buckets of colored water started pouring even as there was some food left on the plates, and everyone ducked for cover.
Ajaybhai, Bhaskarbhai, me, and Jigneshbhai.
A few latecomers from the Indicorps team arrived, right after our lunch. They made the mistake of calling beforehand to announce the fact that they were coming, which allowed us to make some great plans for accosting them, allowed us to ready the terrace buckets, etc. All the boys in the group were given the ceremonial mud dunking and I am proud to say I got some lovely color and bucketwater drenchings in as well.
All in all, we played Holi for about 5 hours straight, and then walked to the nearest tea shop where we had little cups of delicious chai. Claire and I went home and took hour-long showers, though some remnants of Holi were sure to remain for the next few days--a green spot on the elbow, pink nails, a little blue behind the ears...
Though celebrating Holi was a wonderful time, what made it amazing were the people I was celebrating with. Manav Sadhna has truly become another home to me. Being at the NGO and with the people who work at it makes me feel like I am in the safest place in the world, with the best people in the world. Sunilbhai, Ajaybhai, Jigneshbhai, Sandeepbhai, Bhaskarbhai, Raghubhai, Anjali, all of the children, and everyone else at MS are no longer my friends or my students, but rather my family. Any new volunteers I meet each time I go just become part of this ever-growing parivar. I can't think of anywhere else I would have rather been for Holi.
*Pictures: courtesy Mira.
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