Holi – The Festival of Colors!

Argument was heating up. The environment around them had drastically changed. It seemed like the four walls of the room were running closer to hug each other and would crash the four guys into microscopic pieces.

“Enough is enough. You both are taking it to heights. Now please stop the nonsense” Sunil shouted not able to bear the irritation he was having with the ongoing argument.

“You first tell him” Rakesh yelled back.

“Yeah, as if I started it all. Right?” Mohan shouted even before Rakesh could complete his sentence and gulp in the saliva to sooth his dried up throat.

“Yes. That’s right.” Rakesh shouted back looking at bulb that was silently smiling on their foolish quarrel.

“Kishan atleast you tell them” Sunil said, turning at Kishan who was quietly sitting on the corner chair watching the whole scene.

He chose to remain silent. When he saw Sunil staring at him with some genuine expectation he just shifted his eyes onto a book which lay open in front of him.

No one spoke for around 5 minutes and the experience of silence was so ghastly that each of them could hear each other’s heartbeats. It seemed like they were lost in the forest and hit a dead end. Finally Sunil opened his mouth and tried explaining Rakesh and Mohan but then something stopped him. Kishan was still looking at the same page of the same book. He was not reading it but he was pretending to escape the scene.

Mohan stood up and said, “Kishan I am leaving. If you want you can walk with me. Good Night Sunil”

“Dude, Mohan, why are you so angry? Please don’t act childish. Forget all this.” Sunil said again.

“Good Night Sunil” Saying this, Mohan just walked out of the room.

“I will call you later” Kishan said to Sunil and quietly walked behind Mohan.

“Atleast you try to understand Rakesh. We are such a great team. Why suddenly this entire quarrel. You are the matured one. Just give it a skip.” Sunil tried again to persuade Rakesh.

“Sunil, you were here the entire evening and you know it’s not my mistake. Please don’t try explaining me anything.” Rakesh said closing his eyes tight and bending his lips at the end.

Sunil was much more disappointed than anyone could guess. He was even getting angry with Kishan who dint even try to patch up the two idiots who argued whole evening and walked away as if they were never going to see each other. But deep in his mind he thought, hard, that if Kishan was silent then he had something running in his mind. As he kept thinking more, his thirst for knowing what was running in Kishan’s mind started growing.

He lifted his head and looked at Rakesh who was just scrolling screens blankly in his mobile. He felt bad for both of them. The three of them had grown in the same colony since their birth. Their gang of three was the most famous and notorious gang in their childhood. As they grew up into high school a new member joined in, Kishan. He had moved into the colony when they were in their high school and also he was the only one who got into their group. There were many other boys of the same age but none could get along with them, not because they dint allow but no one other than these four pals were special and honest enough to share that special bond.

It had been two years since Kishan had joined and these four friends and their group were well known in the colony for their friendship, togetherness and helpfulness. Their day started together and ended together.

The whole colony would say, “There can be a night when we may see all those stars dispersed apart but there can never be a day when we can see these four friends apart”

The same thought was revolving inside Kishan’s head as he silently walked to his home along with Mohan. He knew what happened was very bad and it had to be mended. But how? The more he thought, darker the night grew.

That night, though the food was equally tastier, the four friends couldn’t gulp it down. All four of them were equally hurt and disturbed. As the time passed by leaving them behind, the weight of the dispute, carried by Rakesh and Mohan multiplied. Just as Sunil returned back to his room after forcing some food through is throat, he received a message on his mobile. It was from Kishan.

What happened today was bad. But I am sure we will fix it.

Suddenly there was a ray of hope in Sunil’s eyes. He smiled a little but before that he replied back to Kishan.

You have any idea? I am sure you have one.

His mobile beeped well before he could lock it. Kishan had replied back.

Yep! 

Sunil - Awesome dude... You rock!

Kishan - Let’s meet tomorrow 30 mins before school... GN

Sunil - Done... GN

Though Sunil and Kishan slept peacefully, it was not the same scene in the other two homes. Rakesh and Mohan had started feeling guilty of what they had done but were still equally raged. They felt guilty when they remember they no longer had the same friendly feeling towards each other but their anger rose when they imaged how the other person had argued.

As per me, anger and hatred are the two fastest growing weeds in the world. Give them a drop of thought and they grow heights. They can even grow till such a point wherein you can shape them but can never remove them along with their roots. They are best when uprooted before they grow out of control.

The same happened with Rakesh and Mohan. The more they kept thinking the more happily the weed of hatred grew in their hearts. It even grew so much that they started feeling happy over their argument and even vowed to take revenge.

A friendship of which the whole colony spoke about had now come down to revenge!

What a pity. Suddenly in hours the evil had won over the good and the return journey seemed blocked for the whole life. The whole night Rakesh and Mohan slept, but with eyes wide open!

“What’s the idea?” Sunil asked Kishan as soon as he met him in front of their school’s main gate.

Both of them smiled after Kishan explained the whole idea to Sunil and they happily walked into their classrooms. 

Two days passed with no progress on the return journey.

It was the brightest day of the year. The Sun was as bright as the people of Sai Colony were active. They were happy active and all geared up with their colors. Yes, it was the day of Holi Festival. Everyone carried colors in their hands and smiles on their faces. Wherever your sight could travel, you could see only two things, color and happiness.

Children were on the top of their activeness, throwing colors, shooting water, throwing the water balloons, screaming, running all around. All of them drenched in water but none of them shivered with cold. Even the adults had come out enjoying themselves with the colors and games.

The roads had all turned colorful, even difficult to identify the color. Even the faces of kids were difficult to identify. If Chintu’s face was colored red, Bantu’s face was colored blue, Tinu’s face was colored yellow while Monu’s face was colored green. Pintu’s shirt which was originally grey in color had turned colorful, a dark green patch at his right shoulder, a greasy patch of black color on his tummy, red patch at his waist and yellow scattered spots all over that only because his best friend Rolu had just thrown dry yellow color on him.

There was such a variety of colors soothing the eyes that it was very difficult for every eye to choose the best and the most attractive color. People watching the kids playing on the roads were getting confused in choosing their favorite color. At every sudden gap the air would be filled with one color and the next second itself one or the other kid would spray the colored water at another using his Holi Gun.

When Kishan came out of his home in his simple T-Shirt and Pants he was as enthusiastic as he was when he played Holi for the first time. He smiled widely looking at the blue sky and stepped out onto the road. As soon as he stepped out, two more of his friends along with Mohan dragged him to the middle of the road and poured a bucket full of green colored water. Not only his dress turned light green but each of the hair on the back of his neck stood up because of the cold water. He started shivering, but anyone could bet it was because of his happiness than because of that cold water. He screamed and the other three fellows joined with him. Then they ran towards the North part of the Colony where other friends would be waiting and then the whole group would march towards the Center Park of the Colony where they would make a human pyramid and break the Handi tied at the top with the help of a rope tied between two tall trees. It was a challenge for all the boys of colony to successfully break the Handi and all the girls would try to stop the boys by spraying water.

The whole Sai Colony would float on the ship of happiness for the whole day on Holi. As Kishan and Mohan marched towards the Center Park playing Holi, cheering, screaming, spraying colored water, throwing color on everyone they saw.

Meanwhile a group of other six friends were screaming, playing and running merrily towards the Center Park. In this group were Sunil and Rakesh. On another way one more group was running towards the Center Park.

Each of the kid had turned unrecognizable due to the color. It was as difficult to identify the face of any kid as difficult to identify the true color of the shirt worn by them. Only the teeth and the eyes glowed up white but the rest of the body showed all the colors. Each child looked like a painter’s pallet, smeared up with all colors.

It was 11:30 AM when finally the whole colony gathered in the Center Park. The boys were dancing in fun, while the girls were playing around with colors. Adults had gathered to watch the great event of breaking the Handi, while small kids were running around with their Holi Guns.

Finally the stage was set for the event and all the boys lined up for making the pyramid. Kishan looked around and without much difficulty found Sunil who was looking at him. Both winked at each other and then positioned themselves.

The ground floor was made by a circle of strongest of the boys. Then the first floor was made as the next group of boys climbed the boys circled in ground floor and locked their arms together around the necks and made a stronger circle. It was now the turn of the boys standing in next line to climb the ground floor and then the first floor and make the second floor. It was a challenge, climbing above two floors without breaking the circles and then position themselves tightly making a strong second floor.

In this line, were Rakesh and Mohan standing at the ends. Between them were standing two other boys. None of them knew that both were in same line except Kishan and Sunil who had planned all this two days back. As the four climbed the two floors slowly and cautiously, everyone started cheering and the whole air was mixed with the cheering sounds and the colors of Holi.

The happiness and the fun had reached the sky. Even God was happily smiling how his creations had joined together and celebrating together forgetting all their worries, hatred, anger, tension. He thought if only he could make the festival of Holi every month.

As the four boys in the second floor climbed and joined hands, Rakesh and Mohan were shocked to see each other. Their hatred suddenly rose above everything and they frowned at each other. But the fun which had spread in the air overtook their hatred and they held each other’s hand.  Then tightly put hands over each other’s neck and made a strong circle. As strong their hold grew, the weaker their hatred grew. The next line of boys started climbing the pyramid and slowly with everyone, Rakesh and Mohan too started cheering and screaming.  The moment a boy put his leg on their shoulders, their hold grew stronger and they came closer. The determination and the team player in them popped above everything else. As the pyramid went high, their hatred and their memories of that sour argument started dying.

Finally the last boy climbed the three floors of human pyramid and was ready to break the Handi. He shouted loudly “Bharat Maata Ki Jai” and hit the Handi with a coconut. The whole colony screamed loudly and clapped in happiness. The girls danced merrily. Kids jumped high.

Boys had won the challenge in only one attempt. Even Rakesh and Mohan were screaming in happiness. Slowly the pyramid started coming down and then suddenly it came down with a loud scream.

When finally everyone had come down to ground, Rakesh and Mohan each other stood together looking at each other. They felt shameful for their silly act three days back. But they dint had any hatred or anger against the other. It all had been uprooted. They smiled at each other, when Sunil and Kishan walked at them.

Kishan said, “Happy Holi guys we did it.”

Slowly the yellow color spread on the face of Mohan gave way for a drop of tear. As the tear flowed down from his right eye, it made a line clearly visible between that yellow color. As he stared Rakesh, the line grew thicker. Rakesh slowly smiled as tears appeared in his eyes too. They hugged suddenly without saying a word and the air already filled with happiness was now celebrating with the win of goodness over the evil and hatred. That one hug solved their entire quarrel.

Then they smeared color again on each other’s faces which wiped off the line that had not fully but slightly washed off the color. All the fantastic four applied color to each other and hugged again. Their smile proved that nothing again would come in between them. Their friendship was now again just as the colors; all separate but could come together any time just to make up a beautiful painting!

Colors have always made people happier; have always been most mesmerizing creations of God. And the Festival of Colors, Holi, has just been doing the same. Bringing people together, kicking off the tension away, spreading happiness, binding hearts, strengthening the bonds and revising the humanity!

There would be no need to explain this festival after the wonderful rejoining of Rakesh and Mohan. Holi is a festival, a festival of colors, it is as pious and as enjoyable as attractive each color is. And we all are very lucky to have played Holi and to play Holi till the end!

Vishal…

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