A HOLI Lot of Fun!

Our Indian friends, the Kaushals invited us to help celebrate one of their most important Hindu holidays this week.  It's called Holi and it is a harvest celebration held in February or March.  One of the most fun parts of Holi in modern times is the celebration of human unity in which participants decorate each other in colorful powders so that everyone ends up looking like a rainbow, and race/caste/sex/status are erased for the moment.  This is a big deal for a country like India where a rigid caste system normally separates people from each other based on their level of social status.

Holi is also a big festival of colorful FUN!

A Holi Celebration at OSU

Powder in every color of the rainbow is sprinkled, smeared, splattered, smacked and tossed in every direction!  Here is how the powder looks in markets in India...

Source

And this is how it's packaged in the US...

A little goes a LONG way, let me tell you.  We were told to dress in clothes that we didn't mind getting ruined, but I figured I'd be taking pictures so I didn't dress Maeve or I for the fun.  Boy was I wrong!  Once the color-throwing starts, no one is safe!  In India they even try to trick neighbors out of their houses so they can color them!  We didn't need to trick the kids though - they were more than happy to join in.

Though Neeti (pronounced NEE-thee) did have to stage a sneak attack on one of her friends who had snuck off so as not to be caught in the colorful melee.  She recruited Jack as her accomplice.

He gave as good as he got.

But the "Most Colorful" award went to Neeti's daughter Ananya.

She had her own stash of powder but was nice enough to share with the boys.

Here are some of the results of all the Holi fun...

Our neighbor Jack D.

Ben, none too pleased that his dominant color was PINK!

Jack, who took the world's longest shower shortly after this picture was snapped.

Anita and Samir, our next-door neighbors.

  

Molly and her best friend Makala

Maeve...I told you, no one was safe!  She was not too thrilled at looking like a rainbow colored baby Clingon.

Yours Truly

Rohan

Keegan, Rohan, Maeve and Jack....the middle school boys are so adorable with the way they love Maeve.
She's like their little mascot, and they wait turns to hold her!

  

Jack, Shivam and Samir

The whole gang!

 We are so blessed to live in such a diverse city and have friends 

who are willing to share their culture with us!  

Now I just have to get Neeti to teach me how to make samosas 

and authentic curry and life will be complete!

HAPPY HOLI!