Its now the time
of year when roadside stalls throughout northern India bear
tables covered with bags of colorful powder, called gulal greens
and blues, yellows, reds and purples rows and rows of bags. Holi,
the great Indian festival of colors, is a unique celebration of
high spirits, when the new season is courted with a riot of rich
colors. It is like a grand kaleidoscope that glorifies all the
hues that tinge and renew the lives on earth.
It
falls on the full moon day of the March, the month when the nippy north
wind bows out to the refreshing and rejuvenating breeze from the south,
heralding the onset of the ensuing summer in this part of the world. It
is thus a festival of spring. The time when the seasonal cycle is caught
on a transition. This is when nature starts donning new color. The new
foliages start sprouting on the branches, dried and weary over a winter.
It is also time when the harvests are reaped and bundled in sheaves. The
air is filled with promises of warmth and new lives as the earth
discards the wintry glum to greet the bright sun of summer. Beset with
this exhilarating backdrop, Holi comes, flinging colors and verve into
the landscape of India. As if to mark the renewal and rebirth of life.
Holi is thus a celebration of life, the life of love, unblemished joy,
and good spirits.
