March 19-22, 2019
Our second time through Delhi gave us a glimpse of an entirely different side of the city. We were staying in a pleasant neighborhood near a yellow line metro station about 30 minutes south of the city center, where before we were in the chaotic, cramped, and dirty alleys of Paharganj. Wide sidewalks were lined with upscale salons and restaurants. We took a break from sight-seeing, instead getting a haircut, shopping at H&M, and seeing Captain Marvel (in English) at a nearby movie theater. The movie experience was similar to the US, just cheaper ($3 tickets), slightly more cramped seats, censored curse words, and a ten minute intermission. We even bought popcorn and pop, but I managed to spill almost the entire pop on Tim during the movie and then knock over the bucket of popcorn while trying to help him dry off! Sigh. I replaced the popcorn during intermission.
It could have been any weekend at home. Well, except for Holi. Holi is the Hindu festival of spring, colors, and love. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of multi-colored people throwing bright powders on each other. We read that most of those images are often not even from India, as the holiday has spread with Hindu populations worldwide. We looked for a celebration in Delhi, but we mostly found music festivals advertised to foreigners that weren’t too appealing. We decided to just see what would come.
The night before we started noticing a few people covered in colored powder and had a few water balloons thrown at us from nearby balconies. The morning of Holi around 10:00 am we dressed mostly in black and a sacrificial white kurti just in case and headed out to get coffee. Most of the shops were closed and the sidewalks fairly quiet. A few more water balloons splashed at our feet and one mid-30s man was in a color fight with some kids, and he ran at us and sprayed us with a can of colored foam and some purple powder, shouting “happy Holi!” before running away. We thought that was about it until we followed some music to a nearby playground and saw a roiling neighborhood party. Crazy colors, water guns, and music. We were looking on amused when one of the dads invited us in. As we walked in they asked permission before gently dabbing our faces with color and saying “Happy Holi”. Then the kids targeted us with water guns and powder and all hell broke loose. Obviously we had to fight back! They offered us beer, samosas, and sweet almond drinks. We played with the kids and chatted some with the older crowd. Around noon, thoroughly rainbowed, we thanked our hosts and headed home to clean up. One of the ladies explained that the neighborhood parties would wind down and everyone would go home and sleep in the early afternoon and then the city would mostly return to normal by evening. We were grateful to have been invited in to share in the experience!
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