Desi Dialogues

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As many South Asian-Canadians bear the cold temperatures in Toronto and brace for more snowy weather, it's also a time when they remember and celebrate the traditional Indian festival of Holi.

Called the festival of colours, it's the welcoming of spring and a sort of thanksgiving - for giving a good bountiful winter harvest to the farmers of India. It's also one of the most boisterous festivals in that it is celebrated with powdered colours; people throw coloured watered or smear powder on each other and paint each other with bright colours.

Various Indian organizations will celebrate Holi, which falls on March 22 this year.

While some organizations and temples charge people for cleaning the gulllal - or red colour - that messes the rented halls, others celebrate with talcum powder so it is not as messy. Others choose to drink beer or other non-traditional drinks such as whiskey. I say non traditional because during Holi people often drink bhang, an intoxicating drink which is mixed with thandai, an almond and milk drink.

Also, in Canada, due to the winter weather, the celebrations take place indoors. Traditionally, Holi is an outdoors, all-India festival with every government organization closed.

People, especially youngsters in India, get up early in the morning and smear each other with red gullal. Taking it one step further, buckets of coloured water and balloons filled with red water is thrown on people, even bystanders. In urban cities and villages, you will find friends roaming the streets wishing everyone a "Happy Holi."

The elders are more civil and may just touch their friends' cheeks and dab them lightly with colours.

In the evening after people have had bhang and are exhausted, there is an evening celebration at temples. In India, people light a huge bonfire. The bonfire is lit to signify the death of Holika, the sister of a bad demon-king Hiranyakashyap. According to Hindu mythology, the king tried to kill her nephew, a follower of the revered Hindu god Lord Vishnu.

I never participated in Holi activities; my father thought it was a crazy excuse for misbehaving. My father knew that Holi is used as an excuse by many teenagers to flirt with one another. In fact, many Bollywood movies show the hero drenching his girlfriend or a person he has a secret crush on with gullal.

But this year my 16-year-old son, Jahan, who last celebrated Holi when we left for Canada seven years ago, is especially thrilled to be organizing a big event on our building terrace in Mumbai. Along with his friends, he is accepting a $2 donation and is raising money to organize food, music and dancing after people finish with Holi activities in the morning.

And he has asked me not to bother him with any cautious words of advice. In fact now that I am a mother, I think I may really throw caution to the winds and for the first time really smother myself in red colour, after all what's holiday without red gullal.