Holi is the Hindu festival of colour and signifies the end of winter and the respective arrival of spring. The festival originated in northern India and is celebrated throughout India and Nepal, in various different forms. Some cities or towns have very traditional and religious ceremonies, in others, the women beat the male population playfully with lathis (canes) and more recently, Holi in some parts is celebrated as one big party with DJs and everything else that comes with it.
We experienced Holi in Bhuj, Gujarat - the westernmost state of India. At our accommodation we inquired where we could join some celebrations and received a suggestion which we followed. Thirty minutes later we were dropped off by our tuktuk driver and paid a small entrance fee to who knows what. The “event space” was completely enclosed by white cloth on all sides, with no shelter above from the open sky. Upon entering we noticed a group of youngsters already busy with throwing coloured powder at each other and dancing under the installed overhead sprinklers. There were traditional Indian drums as well as a DJ playing enticing beats and luring more and more youngsters to the sandy “fighting pits”. We stayed for two to three hours and joined in all the fun with maybe sixty to seventy young locals, mostly students from the nearby medical college. They enjoyed TRYING to teach the foreigners how to dance and, of course, either brush some colour on our cheeks or completely douse us in it. My husband and I had a blast returning that favour and throwing colour on anyone in range, as well as each other. As the coloured powder and water was flying everywhere I had to step away, safe and out of range, in order to take some pictures from time to time.
While there were many fun and entertaining moments, I decided to share the interaction of one particular group of friends with you. They, like everybody else, were having a great time and definitely let it show.
The last two pictures are selfies taken with my husband’s cell phone; the first being the making of this series of pictures and the second was during our walk back to our accommodation, being completely doused in colour on the street.
P.S. For friends and family not too familiar with photoblog; the images are a tiny bit blurry if they are not set as full screen, but if you click on the image you can see it in its original clarity
Notice the other hand filled with powder appraoching
Notice that other hand in the background equipped with coloured powder
Boom, gotcha!
My husband and I enjoying the Holi spirit
Fantastic, beautiful, but how did you protect your camera?
Thank you, John. Originally I wanted to get a disposable camera to take some photos in the midst of all the action. Couldn’t find one anywhere, though, so it had to be my DSLR. I had a UV filter on the lens and the actual camera in a seatosummit 4 litre waterproof bag. Still, I had to remove myself from the action and zoom in to protect my camera as much as possible. It does need a deep clean