Holi. A magically colorful Hindu festival to commemorate the beginning of spring. I explained this occasion in detail in a prior post, but I decided to experience this event first hand with all its pomp for the first time.
The family and I joined hundreds of Indians and many non Indians in a massive party of celebration. Everyone was throwing colored powder in the air, the kids were teasing each other with different colors in their hands as everyone gently applied the powders to the faces of friends, family and strangers. I had several total strangers come to me and wish me” Happy Holi” as they invaded my personal space and colored my head and beard. But of course saying those 2 words gave everyone automatic immunity to come close and closer.
The bands played, the dancers danced, the musicians banged their drums and the DJ rocked the party with Bollywood hit music. Everywhere I looked there was a multicolor of shades yellow, pink, red, orange, green, blue, purple, till the white of the non Indians, and the darker skins of dissidents from all parts of India that had arrived were simply for the lack of a better description, “colorFULL”.
It was a little concerning, as I could not tell anyone apart, as everyone merged into the crowd of color, and soon there was just an ocean of non white/black/brown people jumping up and down to the music. We were one big non digital cloud, amassing joy and song and of course a spectrum of rainbow in human form.
It got me thinking. In this moment racism had been abolished. No discrimination between the north or South Indians, or the non Indians who had come to see what all the fuss was about. When we are celebrating, ergo in a state of joy and love, there can be no discernment. It was truly a collective of good spirited fun, enjoyment and love for the seasonal changing event. Effectively what discriminates us superficially namely gender, color and age all had been eliminated under the plethora of color. Yet so much diversity of the bright colors and no one complained that they were one or the other, but were proud to be all of them and more.
Love is a multicolored spectrum, but its purity is in its integration of all its shades and not in its split like a rainbow. It is the combination of all opposites and diversities. It is a collective force and not a divergent property. Love is all around us, but our minds are too quick to differentiate based on various preconceived socially created factors.
Once hit by color, it is hard to remove it ( all our clothes in the wash came out pink) and so too it is hard to remove love from the heart once struck by its arrow.
………………
I love you
