Nilit and I have finished working at the hospital in Dhenkanal, Orissa. It's hard to believe it's already been over a whole month here in India!
Toward the end of our stay we got to know Yogi and the sisters a bit more, and recently, the hospital surgeon too (Dr. Singh). During pre-op one day Dr Singh (who we don't get to speak with too often) invited us both to his house to celebrate Holi the following day. If you aren't familiar with this Indian "festival of colors," I'll summarize. The folk story goes that an evil man was trying to get his son killed by a monster named Holika. Holika was to sit the boy in her lap as she sat atop a blazing fire (she was immortal, and would not be harmed by the fire). However, when Holika tried to kill the boy this way, he began praying. Because the boy was such a strong devotee, he was saved and couldn't be burned or killed. Everyone celebrated his survival that day, and continue to do so today with the festival named after the monster.
To be completely honest I just learned all this the day after Holi, when I was talking on the phone with my mom (to be even more honest, it's probably at least the 30th time I've heard it, but I forget every year). The folk tale, the celebration of the boy's survival - none of this was even remotely obvious while we were actually celebrating. This is just to say that the celebration itself has roots in this little folk tale, but those roots have mostly been lost over the years - much like Christmas has become about pine trees and gift-giving. That being said, we didn't mind at all. We aren't really celebration purists, I guess. If it's fun, we will be there... And this time, it was a BLAST.
Holi these days is celebrated with lots of food, and dousing your friends and family in colored powder. The powder comes in tonnes of colors, and they are all just amazingly brilliant. When people talk about India being colorful, this is what they mean. Seriously. The colors - green, purple, orange, red, pink, yellow - they are all bright and just stunning!
We spent most of the day celebrating with Dr. Singh. He picked us up in the morning and we walked over to his house. We had our colors in hand and donned white clothing, which we also bought from the market the night before. As you can imagine, your real clothes would be irreparably stained by the colors of Holi. Plus, wearing white helps showcase all of the colors of your celebrations.
On the way to the doctor's house, we ran into a few groups of kids, who had already clearly enjoyed their morning. Playing Holi is a little like a snowball fight. Doesn't matter if you're strangers - if you've got your weapons in-hand you're fair game. And then it's on!
We had fun at the doctor's house, and had some tea and snacks and met his wife. The two of them moved from a different state in India 6 months ago, and his wife and I bonded over missing home a bit. She also didn't speak Oriya, so she was glad to have some Hindi-speaking company. We talked about everything from friends and family to food and photography and engineering. On the way back to the hospital with Dr Singh we ran into a few more groups of kids as well as a group of probably 10-15 older friendly men traveling the town on scooters. They were just going from house-to-house, Halloween style, celebrating holi with whoever was in the mood (and whoever would feed them!). They invited us with them, and much dancing, singing, and coloring was had in random places. I wish I could explain how much fun it was, but you really had to be there. Most of them were probably in their 40s, but they were enjoying themselves as much as the kids we saw. Women carrying food, sweets, and more color would come outside to greet us and everyone would sing and dance and play Holi.
It was awesome.
So eventually we made our way back to the hospital. Yogi and another staff member were there, but the rest of the place was sadly quiet. After realizing that most of the sisters (the paramedics who live in the hospital) weren't around, we all decided to have our own fun.
We still had some color left, and Nilit and I had also bought a water squirter from the Holi market the night before. It was basically just a giant plastic orange syringe. Nilit and I decided to fill a couple buckets of water and mixed in some powdered color. We walked out to the street in front of the hospital and started filling the syringe and shooting random passer-bys with the color-filled water. Some people on their bikes and scooters would swerve around trying to avoid us, but most people were loving it. A few even stopped in their tracks and surrendered to our attack and enjoyed the cool colorful water, on what by now had turned into a very hot afternoon. At some point Dr Singh turned to us and said "now THIS is how you play Holi!"
After Dr Singh decided to head home and call it a day, Nilit and I figured we could venture out to the market. We walked down the road in front of the hospital, colors in hand. We played with random kids on the street and joined some guys in front of a temple dancing. The crowds quickly dwindled, though, and we realized after noticing a shift in the type of people who were out, that it was best to head home.
So Holi for us was a blast. It took a few showers to get all of the color out, and we're still noticing parts of our fingers or hair that are still dyed - but it'll go away soon enough. Luckily the fun memories will stay though.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
Toward the end of our stay we got to know Yogi and the sisters a bit more, and recently, the hospital surgeon too (Dr. Singh). During pre-op one day Dr Singh (who we don't get to speak with too often) invited us both to his house to celebrate Holi the following day. If you aren't familiar with this Indian "festival of colors," I'll summarize. The folk story goes that an evil man was trying to get his son killed by a monster named Holika. Holika was to sit the boy in her lap as she sat atop a blazing fire (she was immortal, and would not be harmed by the fire). However, when Holika tried to kill the boy this way, he began praying. Because the boy was such a strong devotee, he was saved and couldn't be burned or killed. Everyone celebrated his survival that day, and continue to do so today with the festival named after the monster.
To be completely honest I just learned all this the day after Holi, when I was talking on the phone with my mom (to be even more honest, it's probably at least the 30th time I've heard it, but I forget every year). The folk tale, the celebration of the boy's survival - none of this was even remotely obvious while we were actually celebrating. This is just to say that the celebration itself has roots in this little folk tale, but those roots have mostly been lost over the years - much like Christmas has become about pine trees and gift-giving. That being said, we didn't mind at all. We aren't really celebration purists, I guess. If it's fun, we will be there... And this time, it was a BLAST.
Holi these days is celebrated with lots of food, and dousing your friends and family in colored powder. The powder comes in tonnes of colors, and they are all just amazingly brilliant. When people talk about India being colorful, this is what they mean. Seriously. The colors - green, purple, orange, red, pink, yellow - they are all bright and just stunning!
 |
| Colors at the market on the eve of Holi |
We spent most of the day celebrating with Dr. Singh. He picked us up in the morning and we walked over to his house. We had our colors in hand and donned white clothing, which we also bought from the market the night before. As you can imagine, your real clothes would be irreparably stained by the colors of Holi. Plus, wearing white helps showcase all of the colors of your celebrations.
On the way to the doctor's house, we ran into a few groups of kids, who had already clearly enjoyed their morning. Playing Holi is a little like a snowball fight. Doesn't matter if you're strangers - if you've got your weapons in-hand you're fair game. And then it's on!
We had fun at the doctor's house, and had some tea and snacks and met his wife. The two of them moved from a different state in India 6 months ago, and his wife and I bonded over missing home a bit. She also didn't speak Oriya, so she was glad to have some Hindi-speaking company. We talked about everything from friends and family to food and photography and engineering. On the way back to the hospital with Dr Singh we ran into a few more groups of kids as well as a group of probably 10-15 older friendly men traveling the town on scooters. They were just going from house-to-house, Halloween style, celebrating holi with whoever was in the mood (and whoever would feed them!). They invited us with them, and much dancing, singing, and coloring was had in random places. I wish I could explain how much fun it was, but you really had to be there. Most of them were probably in their 40s, but they were enjoying themselves as much as the kids we saw. Women carrying food, sweets, and more color would come outside to greet us and everyone would sing and dance and play Holi.
It was awesome.
So eventually we made our way back to the hospital. Yogi and another staff member were there, but the rest of the place was sadly quiet. After realizing that most of the sisters (the paramedics who live in the hospital) weren't around, we all decided to have our own fun.
 |
| This guy felt strongly that Nilit should have a mustache. So he painted one on. |
We still had some color left, and Nilit and I had also bought a water squirter from the Holi market the night before. It was basically just a giant plastic orange syringe. Nilit and I decided to fill a couple buckets of water and mixed in some powdered color. We walked out to the street in front of the hospital and started filling the syringe and shooting random passer-bys with the color-filled water. Some people on their bikes and scooters would swerve around trying to avoid us, but most people were loving it. A few even stopped in their tracks and surrendered to our attack and enjoyed the cool colorful water, on what by now had turned into a very hot afternoon. At some point Dr Singh turned to us and said "now THIS is how you play Holi!"
After Dr Singh decided to head home and call it a day, Nilit and I figured we could venture out to the market. We walked down the road in front of the hospital, colors in hand. We played with random kids on the street and joined some guys in front of a temple dancing. The crowds quickly dwindled, though, and we realized after noticing a shift in the type of people who were out, that it was best to head home.
 |
| After a full day of Holi - Happy and colorful! |
So Holi for us was a blast. It took a few showers to get all of the color out, and we're still noticing parts of our fingers or hair that are still dyed - but it'll go away soon enough. Luckily the fun memories will stay though.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading!
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