Reliving Holi....

Its a day past Holi and as i was on my way to work, i remembered the Holi celebrations that we used to have a few years ago. Being from Southern India, Holi was not celebrated as a festival but only for the revelry. Seeing the remnants of Holi celebrations on Bangalore's roads reminded me of times gone by, of times that will not come back and of times that remind me that i have probably moved on from that phase of life. Nostalgia took over!

When i was a kid, Holi was celebrated with me tagging along sis and her gang of friends. I would be so thrilled at being included in the "older and therefore cooler" gang.
Years went by, and "The Gang of neighborhood kids" became an integral part of any celebrations including Holi.( Some of the greatest times where spent with the gang. It figures, since I met K there :) )
Much to the annoyance of dad, sis and I would beg and plead to go play Holi with them.
Dad didnt approve of girls going out and pouring colors on other people(read boys) on the streets! :D
It didnt matter even if we tried convincing him that we would all gather at a friend's place.
Only after a lot of coaxing by mom would he agree begrudgingly! (oh well, thats appa!)

Off we would go in old faded dresses that could be discarded after Holi, mositurizer applied to face,hands and legs, oil applied to our hair so as to get the colors off easily!

What would start as a just appying colors on people's faces would end up in tossing people into water tanks filled with colored water! And ofcourse the photo session later with unrecognisable faces. People who wouldnt turn up had it worse, the gang would head up to their houses, knock on their doors and smear colors.

And now Holi is not the same anymore, people have moved out of the country, drifted apart, gotten married and are busy with their lives . I somehow cannot fathom the same set of people playing Holi together anymore :) I guess those were our Wonder Years!