a colorful Holi

I am trying to think of the western equivalent for the Indian festival of Holi; I don't think there is one. Its color, music, color, dancing, reunions with families, color, and the celebration of the beginning of spring. We made plans to spend Holi with Trudi and Molly in Mathura and Vrindavan, about 300 kilometers from Lucknow. Our trip was consumed with seeing the sights of these ancient cities and 'playing' Holi. Here are some of the highlights:

Saturday
On our drive in we passed the Jaigurudev Temple and after noticing its resemblance to the Taj and the crowds of people around, we had to visit. As we took in the beauty of this newish temple and watched as people gave their offerings and prayer, a guy in his mid-teens approached us to offer a tour and some history. We told him to take us where the crowds of people were going. He led us through a closed door (sometimes being a Westerner in India is equivalent to VIP status) and walked us around the balcony...and there they were. Thousands of people all sitting on the floor in their bold colors facing an empty raised stage. Our 'guide' informed us that the guru of this temple was still alive at 109 years old and all these people had gathered to hear him speak. We stood on the balcony overlooking these crowds feeling a little guilty that they were down there fighting for a view and shade and we were up above with both. Our guide, who we later learned went by Prince, offered Dan a view from the top of the minaret. The rest of us joined and after a scary walk up the unfinished staircase, we realized that the thousands sitting below us was actually more like tens of thousands stretching out in all directions waiting for their guru to arrive. We were yelled at to come down from the top of the minaret and found out the guru was not going to speak today, but would tomorrow. Rather than listen to the ‘sub guru’, we walked toward the temple exit and discovered the nine-foot door was closed, with a lock across it the size of my arm. The door opened for a brief second and crowds of people swarmed the entrance, with the 'security guards' trying to unsuccessfully keep them out. Fearing that we would be trampled in the stampede that ensued we looked to Prince who said with confidence "I will arrange for your security," which he did by sneaking us out a side entrance and escorting us to our car.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Krishna's birthplace in Mathura and looking for the Vishram Ghat for aarti, with no luck.

Sunday
Erev Holi. We woke up at the crack of dawn to make our way to Govardhan to see the 6am aarti. Like the aarti the night before, we missed it. Our driver drove us as close as he could but when the road turned into a parking lot, he suggested we walk the rest of the way. Just as we were about to get out of the car, something was thrown at us. I thought it was rocks and dirt; it was pink powder, of which I would see a lot more of. We started our walk, weaving through the buses, cars, people, and cows to Govardhan. Our hope was to make it to the mountain that legend says Lord Krishna raised above his head with his pinky finger. The walk there became stressful- between weaving through the traffic and defending ourselves from the color, it was tough. Throwing color is one thing, but trying to get it in the Westerners eyes, ears, and mouths, and down their shirts...well just sucks. We made it to the water and had an incredible experience of watching people submerge themselves in the river and explored the temple there. By our walk back to the car, we got pretty good at defending ourselves from the color. Rule of thumb- if a bus full of people in it and on top by, duck and cover.

We spent the afternoon back in Mathura to see the Holi Gate and the Dwarikadheesh Temple. On our walk from the gate to the temple we took a detour at an astrologer/jeweler who told Molly he saw yellow sapphires in her future and then tried to sell her yellow sapphires. Good shtick. As we made our way down the alley like street, we passed a group of Americans who were covered from head to toe in color and warned us that if we kept walking that way, we would be too. We were torn- we wanted to play Holi but we also wanted to watch Holi. We knew that the parade of color was coming towards Holi gate so we made a plan to invite ourselves to a second story balcony with a great view of the gate. Our plan worked! We had a great view of the festivities below, which turned out to be a parade, complete with floats (read: 20 Indians piled on the back of a truck throwing color). A woman came over and asked Molly and I if we could come have our picture taken with her. As westerners, we get this request often and didn't think anything of it, until she pulled out the powder. The three of us were surrounded by six or seven photographers as they instructed us to put color on each other and snapped away. We watched the entire colorful parade from our view above and had a great time. The colors, the music, the dancing, the 'floats, the laughter...all amazing. Dan went down and joined in with the party a couple times. We learned after we left that the building from which we were watching belonged to the Congress Party, the political party currently in power in India. Score!

Monday
The hotel manager told us that the photos of me and Molly made it into three newspapers. Apparently they really like the idea of Westerners playing Holi. We later found out we also made it into the online edition of the Hindustand times, a national paper- here is the link! We decided to put our Holi clothes back on and make our way to Vrindavan, the city where Lord Krishna grew up. Our driver took us as far as he could and then it was up to us to venture through the streets to see the sights. We got out of the car and instantly were covered in color. We saw a temple about 100 meters away and headed for cover, but not before we were attacked with color, hugs and gropes. It was intense. I like the 'game' part of it, but I did not like feeling targeted. Apparently most women only play with their families, not out on the street. We made it to the temple where no color throwing was allowed and realized we were at ISKCON, the Hare Krishna temple. My previous experience with Hare Krishna was limited to airports and I came with some judgments. I tried my best to push those thoughts aside and embraced the chanting (Hare Krishna, Hare Hare Krishna), the dancing, and the sights of the beautiful temple covered in fresh colorful gerber daisies. At 1pm, the game of Holi ended. It was as if a national truce was called. We took a bicycle rickshaw tour of the rest of Mathura and saw the Madan Mohan Temple and the Banke Bihari Temple.

Our trip was action and color packed; incredible and overwhelming, at times. Holi might have ended days ago but the evidence of this national “color war” can still be found on people still stained with color as well as the dogs and cows who were only innocent bystanders in this holiday. Here are the pictures!