Holi HAI!! #memorableinstances5.

As a child I was brought up in a non religious and more of a spiritual environment. We were surely taught by our parents to be God fearing as well, so going to church was something I would look forward to. I have fond memories as a kid going to Sunday mass with my parents, in the morning, soon after the famous 'Chitrahaar' was over. It was Chitrahaar, the reason behind my growing fondness towards the Bollywood 'Golden era' and the so called 'Teenage era' songs.

Since my father was a government employee, we stayed in a staff colony. Therefore I had a fun filled childhood, with continuous pampering by our mix religion neighbours. From Abdul uncle's Sheer-khorma in Eid to Pednekar aunty's Besan laddoos during Diwali I have enjoyed it all. My best friend and next window neighbour was a Keralite. His mum was a great cook. So enjoying mouth-watering keralite delicacies was a regular treat for my family and me. They in turn would look forward to my mom's-special manglorean specialities as well. Their balcony was close to our window while the houses were in different wings. So the logistics planned by our smart mums for the quick exchange of multi-state cuisine was quite interesting. From our 5th floor flat window to their balcony in different wing, daily food was exchanged with the help of badminton rackets!

Since the majority in my society were Hindus, I somehow got interested and close to their culture, tradition and festivals. 

Among all the Indian festivals my favourite has always been Holi. The reason being, over the years I have gathered many wonderful profound memories in this festival of goodness and colours. It was absolute excitement wearing old pair of clothes, filling tap-water in balloons- the open-ends of which I would never succeed to knot without my sister's help, running all around the society with besties - splashing colours on each other, tumble countless times on the wet slippery building steps, then once back home using mom's different home remedies to scrub the colour off our bodies. Childhood days are usually adorable to all and I was indeed blessed, thanks to the cultural and religious diversity I lived in, along with the tolerance and harmony the grown-ups shared in our housing colony during those days. 

As I grew up, the Holi fun only grew better and innovative. Now along with my hubby and close friends we plan our Holi much in advance. The colours, venue, thandai, food, dessert, games, etc, etc. Since Holi normally coincides with Lent, we do not eat non veg or have drinks. But we definitely have limitless fun. 

The best part of this festival is that it is one day of the year when you don't have to act mature. Leaving all the grown up stress behind, you could gleefully bring out the hidden mischievous child in you which is normally lost in the bustling society norms and just enjoy like no one's watching. 

There is this one hilarious instance related to Holi which brings out a smile of awkwardness on my face whenever I recollect it.

A couple of years ago, on Holi, my little son had his usual blast with all his kiddie gang of friends in our society. Later, after a week, my husband and I realised that a visit to the church was long due. Unlike my childhood days, now after marriage going to church is not so frequent. Church visits are mostly on birthdays and festivals. Therefore our son was not too accustomed with the meticulous aspects of church.

So along with our kid we went to church. After the mass got over I stood-up to reach out to the holy-water font kept at the entrance of the church. Observing me, our curious little child asked me as to what was in the container. I told him "It's the holy-water". Before I could explain to him further, what the child did was indeed eye-popping. It made the crowd present around us, stare at us dumbfounded. My kid walked ahead, dipped his both hands in the holy-water, then swinging his hands up in the air, in a high volume pitch he said "HOLI HAI !!!!"

- Sharon Lasrado.