Holy Holi !! (And the week before that)

Was asked recently - Why is Holi celebrated?
Must confess, was totally dumb struck.

Apart from remotely remembering someone called Holika getting burnt on this day, I knew nothing about the festival (Also, people getting drunk drinking bhaang and acting stupid)

But the girl, who asked the question, said that there were more than 3 reasons, so googled around and look what i found:

- An agricultural festival celebrating the arrival of spring

- An evil king named Hiranyakashipu wanted to kill his son, Prahlad (a devotee of Vishnu). So he challenged his son to sit on a pyre with his wicked aunt Holika who was believed to be immune to fire. But, as it always turns out to be in Hindu Mythology, the good guy is saved and the evil person dies. Thus we burn the effigy of Holika on a day prior to Holi.

- According to legend, the young Krishna complained to his mother Yashoda about why Radha was so fair and he so dark. Yashoda advised him to apply colour on Radha's face and see how her complexion would change. (And that explains why girls are the target on this day)

- Kama (Cupid) tried to kindle lust on God Shiva, but, instead, was burnt alive when Shiva opened his 3rd eye. Later he forgive Kama for the sake of Kama's wife Rati (passion)

So now that we have the complete reference, let’s talk about what we did.

Bertie called up, asking to come over. play holi ?? (after a gap of 8 years :D)

So I and ZZ9 went to Bertie’s place, where he was ready with eggs in his hands (disgusting!! Especially during these days of BirdFlu)

Similarly Shubh was ready with balloons in his hands, but this time around I was the one with egg in my hands and Shubh’s head as its target.

Rest of the day went ok, with us playing a strange game hitting each other with balloons and Bertie getting assaulted by a kid (the kid was throwing water, color, pesticide etc on Bertie :D)

What did you learn today?
Filling a bucket full of balloons takes an hour but bursting them hardly takes 5 minutes. (Does this signify something ??)

Part 2

The week before

What if you put four guys and a bottle of vodka and gin each – together, at a place where they can’t do much for entertainment?

Chaos!!

So there we were, after having watched Walk the line and our tummy full at Kebab King.

The night started well, with me deciding not to drink anything.

Same old stuff - forming a circle, pouring liquor in steel glasses, drinking, talking in hush tones.

Suddenly, Bertie declared – Let’s play Bhooth – Bhooth (!!). He got his share of kicks for the stupid game.

Shubh then came with the idea of wresting and soon there were people all over each other, kicking each other’s butt. With Bertie excusing himself for puke, every time he was getting beaten.

Everything cooled down after a while (an hour or so with the finishing photo shoot) and people started discussing about girls, life, marriage, work, more girls :D and so on.........ZZZzzzz.......

And for the sake of record keeping, ZZ9 puked after drinking too much (Welcome to the puker’s club)

P.S. Checked with Google. There are no ill effects of having Vodka + Rum together.