The colours of Holi

This Holi, the song " Gulabi" suddenly popped up on my feed, as if on cue. The word "gulabi", so aptly describing the pink mood of love and joy, filmed in the Pink city of "Jaipur"!

As with the song, so with life- how well colours capture and describe the mood of the moment , Pink me thinks for love, Blue for serenity , Green for growth and yellow for joy!

More on the song - Gulabi and the pink city of Jaipur later - do listen to and watch the video , with beautiful imagery , captivating lyrics and melody, pink confetti and orange hues framing the romantic moments of a young couple newly in love .

Very aptly again on this sunny day, I see the city dressed up in the colours of orange, yellow and white with baloons and festivities across London- the Irish flag celebrating St.Patrick's day. On this day, many years ago, being transported to downtown Chicago, i had all the fun of seeing the kayaks on the river spewing out green to start the day, and through the day , the crowds milling around the myriad pubs , and me - although a stranger , feeling so at home with welcoming folks all across the city. Not to forget the joy of seeing the colours of the Indian flag - in the Irish flags all over, they being the same !

Isn't it so much more fun to life when seen through the lens of colours; and no one does it better than India at Holi - i would say , with colours being thrown at unsuspecting strangers dressed in white, with gulal ( the pink powder) being smeared across faces, with pichkaris spewing out little jets of water, with sweet gujiyas and bhang ( the delicious drink ) adding to the revelry all around !

Holi- said to start with Holika "dahan" a bonfire, or a prayer to the Goddess Holika. The bonfire in Holika Fest inspires every one of us to cast aside the darkness we have in our lives and live with positivity. With the dahan, people bury all the negative thoughts into the lit fire and cleanse their soul .

There is also a popular symbolic legend behind the festival. In his youth, Krishna despaired whether the fair-skinned Radha would like him because of his dark skin colour. His mother Yashoda tired of his desperation, asks him to approach Radha and ask her to colour his face in any colour she wanted. This Radha did, and Radha and Krishna became a couple. Ever since, the playful colouring of Radha and Krishna's faces has been commemorated as Holi.*

And with the coming of Holi, which also ushers in spring, lets celebrate all the colours of life, joyful as they are .. Happy Holi to all !

Regards

Aina Rao

The amblingindian

Watch the colourful masterpiece GULABI from the movie #shudhdesiromance from #yrf filmsbelow