Holi Hola Mohalla

This weekend I took advantage of my sister visiting and yet another Public Holiday, (the first of four in March alone!!) and I made a trip to my ancestral state of Punjab. As we travelled along the wide roads of Punjab, gazing out at fields of green as far as the eye could see we also saw many Sikhs driving past on motorbikes with flags waving, and lots of bright coloured banners and people milling around in various locations. So I learned that Punjab also has a public holiday on the 3rd March but whilst they don't celebrate Holi they have their own celebration a day after called Holla Mohalla. And if you are aware of the history and nature of Sikhs you won't be surprised to hear that this is a celebration of martial arts and fighting prowess of the warrior nation that si the Sikhs!

I didn't stay for the Hola Mohalla but instead headed back to Mumbai for Holi on the 3rd. This was partially because I have no fighting prowess and limited interest in watching performances of martial arts but mostly because I have never witnessed a Holi celebration other than through the lens of a Bollywood camera and have always wanted to participate in the festival. Indian movies love featuring a song and dance routine around the Holi celebration with people dressed in virginal white outfits dancing and throwing powdered dyes at one another against a backdrop of blue sky, bright sun, and festoons of colours. I hope I've captured some of that in the photo above. Having watched numerous Holi scenes in movies I was delighted to learn that my new apartment block were putting on a Holi celebration open to all residents.

The ticket price was ₹2000, which is less than £20 for which we were entertained by a DJ, given colours to throw about and were provided with so much food I wasn't even able to try it all but still managed to eat a Pakora, a pakora bread (not a fan), papdi chaat (huge fan), chicken kaathi roll (non-veg and big fan), chicken biryani (huge fan), some sweets whose names I can't remember, and some paan (not much of a fan) to finish up.

There was a BYOB arrangement whereby you could hand in your preferred tipple into the bar, labelled, and the bar staff would serve you with your own drink everytime you went up to the bar. So you could have the full queueing experience you expect at a festival but with no charge!

The start time of the Holi party was 10:00am and yes, I had to check that a couple of times too. In the morning? Drinks at the bar at 10:00am? Who parties at 10:00 in the morning? Well, when in Rome.

Big Sis and I arrived at the party at 10:30 after a major faff in the apartment trying to work it what to wear since our only point of reference was Bollywood movies and most of the women in the movies are wearing very little and nothing that looks like anything real Mumbaiker women wear. We settled on all white and headed down only to find nobody else there and prep still underway.

(Salman Rushdie wrote that a nation that has the same word for tomorrow as for yesterday ("cull") can never be on time. This is so true of Indians. No-one is on time and no-one apologises for being late).

Anyway we came back at 11:00 and then spent the next 3 hours throwing coloured dye at each other and random people, drinking wine, eating food, having a dry dance, followed by a wet dance under some sprinklers, and then cycling through the whole thing again! 3 times. Honestly it was wild and better than I had ever imagined. Also a great way to meet your neighbours although I can't recognise anyone now without orange, pink and blue powder hues to their faces.

We returned to the apartment at about 3:00 and thought we might have a siesta, prompty fell asleep/ passed out for 2 hours! Woke up in a daze and confusion to a setting sun, got washed and dressed and went out for dinner.

I am sold on morning parties.