Happy Holi!

The Indians generally do not celebrate Eastern (except for the Christians, of whom many are converted people from the South and from lower castes...) but they found an alternative to the painting of eggs...they paint themselves!

Holi is the festival which marks the end of winter; on the night before Holi bonfires are lit and the pictures of the demon Holika are burnt to symbolise the victory of bad over evil. On Holi itself the streets are full of people throwing water and coloured powder (gulal) at each other....shocking pink seems to be the favourite, we noticed when coming back from a game of tennis. Our guard Harka had been caught off guard ;) and looked like a shocking pink eastern egg!
Holi is next to Diwali the most important Hindu festival. Now that we are living in the city, we have actually seen people roaming the streets with paint, and there is screaming everywhere... we escaped with some foam on the car (but we DID keep the windows closed, because once the paint gets into your hair you will look coloured for weeks!). My drycleaner told me they do good business after Holi...I believe them!