Festival of colors

Through out the years, the perspective of people has been changing with times. Their priorities, their customs and rituals take a complete new shape with the moving social scenarios and popular thinking. Festivals as a mean of social gathering and 'collective entertainment' has always been very important for all societies, be it Christmas, be it Id, be it Diwali or Holi. All festivals have a common theme of uniting families, friends and at large societies. This communal gathering serves the purpose of making everyone feel as a part of a group, this helps him to relate with the larger group. Thus, festivals become a mirror of social priorities and their unity. Disintegration of a society as such will appear first in changing festival rituals.

Anyway, some days ago was 'Holi', a festival of colors as per Indian tradition. People celebrate this by putting different colors on each other, some keep it dry and some drench others with water. I was fortunate enough to grow up in a small town, so, I had a luxury to listen to all popular holi folk songs and as well being witness of HOLI in full color. When I was young, I used to love the Holi for its songs (not the movie songs), people used to start preparing one month advance for Holi. For complete one month, a small group of young lads used to sit under a tree and used to sing folk songs with 'Chang' (also called Dhapali, a kind of drum). As a kid, I loved it so much that I used to sing these songs with a steel plate in my hands and circling around a candle on a stool. Though, I was just 3 years old at that time and I don't remember the scene that much but my parents still remind me of that whenever there is any mention of Holi. As for the colors, we used to play with water only. My elder cousins used to play with colors but not many hard colors (not easy to remove) were available in the market at that time. All the other elderly people were content with 'Gulal' (dry colored powder, mainly herbal only). People used to hurry up visiting their friends and relatives in early hours of the day and rest of the day, streets were marked red & blue, rainbow was splashed through out the road and people with their faces painted in odd colors appeared like aliens. It was a complete merry-making day and Holi fever used to stretch even for some days after Holi.
When I joined a boarding school at the age of 10, Holi was marked with mud and lots of dirt smacking. It was bad and dirty but I most of the time used to run away from this (most of my friends used to do the same with a very small success rate). I was lucky enough as my home was in just nearby town, so, I used to survive this Holi onslaught unscathed. My friends who were not that lucky, used to run and hide in forests, backside of our hostels. But they were hunted like police used to hunt for 'Virappan' (A bandit from south India, sandalwood smuggler) but with a great success rate. Most of the friends used to give in before evening and had joined the mud party. Still, it was fun as we used to get some good food in our mess. Joy and merry used to make us forget about everything else. Vehicles passing in front of our school used to play Holi songs in full volume and we could hear these even from our classrooms which were well distance away from the front boundary wall.

When I went to college, again hostel (Bombay), so Holi was still with its lively pace. Though in college it used to be just colors and water but still you can't expect us to be dissent, after all its college life. There used to be a small fountain near by our hostel mess and on Holi it used to be filled with color. Everyone, in the start had to take some dips in the pool and throughly present himself to the color onslaught. It was considered inappropriate to have a normal skin color (no black or white, specially light brown) on this day. I admit that I missed Holi in my last year as I went on a bike trip with my friends. We went to a small seashore town called "Murud" and I got some bruises to show while returning. It was not an easy ride as we were a large group, 7 bikes. We lost our way and few parted away on Mumbai-Pune highway, got caught by police, paid fines as bikes were not allowed on that express highway (why the hell, road is there for?), made a mess of our financial plans and even contemplated going back. Finally, when we were passing through Alibagh (another small town, famous for its seaside Villas), we caught up with our parted friends and thankfully some money from an ATM. When we reached our destination, we were relieved but soon were in tight spot as it was a holiday and all liquor shops & bars (most important) were closed. After bugging one local guy we were able to get some beer from his house and then we proceeded to pass on that afternoon in hot sun & beer. One of my close friend, always famous for his drama antics (necessary attribute for getting babes), pained us with his untimely act of being drunk and out of control. We finally got back with one bike loosing its breaks two (including me) getting some bruises on knees.

It was Mumbai, with its loads of lively 'Krishna' (Hindu God, famous for his antics with local babes on Holi) fans, so, Holi was celebrated with gusto enthusiasm in the city. Small suburbs used to have their own competition and on the day you could find many young groups strolling around with colors. Girls and boys both used to be part of these groups. Sadly, with one of the most pathetic male-female sex ratio in world, our campus had to satisfy with the small bunch of girls who used to dare to come out of their hostels. No complains, it was still a good time (after all you should use your scarce resources well).
When I went to Ahmedabad for my management diploma, Holi spirit was little bit down as people were not that open. Inhibitions due to slightly higher number of girls and seriousness of some career caring individuals; it was a small affair, limited to one rain dance party in front of girl’s dormitory. Still, it was not that bad when it was in full flow.
Now, the saddest part, I am in far southern mega town in India, which is populated by some highly intellectual people without any common sense. Holi is not even considered a holiday here. Forget Holi, many people don't even know why is 'Diwali' (a Hindu festival of light and booming sounds of crackers) celebrated. I came to office as usual, though, I was able to notice few colored faces on bikes, who appeared to enjoy there college days. I called up my home and wished them 'happy holi' but even at home it was no festival mood. Times are changing. When I visited last, everyone was too busy to plan for Holi, gone were the days when groups used to sing. Now, on the Holi, police remain on high alert as people are desperate to find any reason for fight. My town has a large population of India’s two main religions and it has already witnessed some bloody rites in past. Holi, has been become a victim of this communal tensions. As for the youths, they all have gone to big cities for their livelihood (including me). Town, now appears a black & white photograph of colored joy in past. My mother cribs that Holi is dead now. People from cities are more willing to spend their money on valentine or some father/mother day cards but playing colors is considered as non-urban and countryside ritual. It doesn't mean that they don't enjoy playing colors but the importance of this festival in our lives has gone down. It’s the same story for other Indian festivals. They are all either dead or dying slowly. Some festivals are surviving in dance performances for foreign tourists and some are supported by government’s cultural committee. We are so busy in chasing dollar dreams that we forget our own diamonds. May be some day, some foreigners will make a documentary on these lost festivals and grand Indian heritage then we will say, "ohh!! We used to enjoy like this.”

So, again on the point I was talking in first paragraph on the importance of these festivals for social unity. As a human, we have very small memory; we tend to forget that we are part of any larger group if we are not reminded of it again and again. Festival as social gatherings used to serve this. Nowadays, popular western festivals are more based on individuals or at best couples. Westerners also have their 'Christmas' which serve the same purpose as Indian 'Holi' or 'Diwali' but we Indians don't celebrate 'Christmas' that much as most of us are non-christens. We are happy to copy western non-religious festivals as these are considered 'modern'. Even westerners are not this much narrow minded in loosing their own gems for other's glittering stones. Holi is already almost gone, now limited in some hostel boundaries, other small festivals are not even in the picture. Is it a sign that our society is dissolving down to oblivion? It's still a long shot but symptoms are already here.