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India Update: Holi

Greetings from Delhi, where I'll be for next week and a half. Today's the second day of the primarily Hindu holiday of Holi, a three-day springtime festival that I'm still trying to get my mind around. The main day, tomorrow, fills me with excitement and dread -- the main activity of "playing Holi" is throwing colored water or powder on people.

As the Rough Guide to India warns, a little primly,  "expect to be bombarded with water, paint, coloured powder and other mixtures; they can permanently stain clothing, so don't go out in your Sunday best." The papers have been filled with public-service ads from the police cautioning against throwing "colour on unwilling persons" or throwing "dirt and chemicals." As I interpret these ads, innocent victims are going to be targeted with both dirt and chemicals.

Kids were already getting revved up on Monday -- a couple of them on a balcony launched a badly aimed stream of water in my direction after first cheerfully yelling hello. Fair warning.

I don't think it takes a semiotics major to guess that all this sprinkling of powder and liquids would be accompanied by a lot of flirty behavior -- I'm not sure how flirty yet, but we'll see.  Some people say that it's the only day on which Indians are allowed to flirt openly with each other. They might be helped along in this direction by the opium- and pot-laced sweets that are a traditional accompaniment to Holi. More on those tomorrow. --John Rambow

Image from Beat of India