Holi Festival 2012, part 2

A few days ago I wrote about the number one Hindu Festival of the year: Holi. Yesterday was 'the' day.

As I mentioned in my first post about Holi, we bought some colors ourselves in a slum near the railway. Just for fun; we gave them away on the day of Holi.

Chemical colors, I think. The green even glitters. Gorgeous colors, that's for sure.

I also bought some spices; curry and paprika.

The eve before Holi there are bonfires everywhere. Hay piles like this one are lit and people gather around the fires.

The next day the remains of the fire were apparently a nice place to sleep for this dog;-).

 Around the chawls (governmental apartment buildings) next to the hotel there were bonfires too. People had gathered and were playing with colors (gulal) and partying. The neighborhood drum band was playing along with loud music (Holi songs).

On every corner there were small stalls selling color powders.

The next day, on the actual Holi, we looked out of our hotel room window at 25 high. We look down on many chawl rooftops and could see lots of children playing with water and colors on the roofs.

The roof of this building slowly turned purple:

The rooftop of the adjacent building turned red:

While at ground level, on the spot where there was that bonfire last night, the drum band was already playing again while people around them were playing with water and colors.

Boys with water guns were chasing each other.

Then we went out to wander along the street. 
People had already been playing and having fun since hours.

On the street we only saw men and children covered in color. No women. Maybe they only play at secluded Holi parties?

Group of men throwing powder at one another.

Every one was in a good, happy mood. Celebrating, chatting, dancing, drinking, playing, eating and having fun. They were proud of their 'colors' and all insisted on having their picture taken....and again....and one more....;-).

They were careful enough not to involve us in the water and color throwing without asking. But we were asked at least 5 times if we wanted to play. Showing them the eczema on my hands was enough for them to accept my refusal. Several people wanted to shake hands though, and in some cases I did. When the color powder touched the eczema wounds on my hands it immediately stung!

Frits could not escape an embrace here and had to wash his Tshirt afterwards;-).

Two tourists who wanted to participate a bit in the action.

Some kids had silver paint on their faces and hair.

It was a fantastic atmosphere and I loooooooved the colors! 

If it would have been guaranteed to be healthy and safe and if I did not have such a sensitive skin I would have loved to play with the colors myself. Unfortunately it CAN be very dangerous and I DO have a sensitive skin:-(. 

More about the dangers in my third and last post about Holi in a few days.