Holi

Few more moments for the day to get over. It is 11:45 at night. Today was Holi. The festival of colours, sweets and legends. No, this post is not about Holi in particular but something I remember of last year. Inadvertently it’ll be connected to the topic of my previous post.

Though I have not been playing Holi for last 4 years, it happens to be one of my favourite festivals. I particularly enjoy the colours. The excitement, the hubbub is unmatched when everybody loves playing it as much as you do. I also love special delicacies that come with it like Gujhiyas (I think the local name is something like Karanji), Maal puas, Alu ka achaar, Dahi vadas, Mutter ki burfi and some non-veg items. No, no Bhaang sherbet for me.

I am not going to talk about the legends like ‘Holika Dahan’ and ‘Radha /Krishna’ attached to it but another significance of Holi which has more (instead I should use ‘only’) meaning to me.

The tradition of the Holi is that even the enemies turn friends on Holi and forget any feeling of hardship that may be present. They celebrate with a spirit of bonhomie and brotherhood.
In the evening people visit friends and relatives and greet them with Abeer/Gulal. This helps in revitalizing relationships and strengthening emotional bonds between people.

Last year this time I was in Brussels. The flight from Mumbai was on Sunday night 12^th March (My memory chip is excellent; I don’t forget things which have impacted me in someway). As there was sometime left to leave for airport, I was on messenger saying last minute bye to everybody.

Topic shifted slightly among three of us (A, S and me) and then suddenly without my fault one of them hurt me by saying something very rude (I still remember the exact words used). I was terribly shocked by that unexpected turn and immediately switched off everything. I was completely shattered and thought that the friendship was now beyond repairs.. not because of that one incident but a series of incidents in the last 10-12 days, all with the same person.

Anyways, the person instantly realized the mistake and wanted to say sorry to me. But how ? Crying, I had left for the airport. Before leaving I had posted a mail to that person telling how hurt I was. I generally scribble my feelings when I am extremely uneasy.

Though I had gone to Brussels for just a week, this one week was very heavy on both of us. That person felt miserably bad and there was no way to contact me (most of our clients don’t allow any private mails etc).

On Thursday, I saw something on that person’s blog. Those lines were written for me. I was touched at the bottom of my heart by the gesture of that person. That was the most genuine, simplest and cutest way of asking for forgiveness I had ever come across. I forgave :))

In the last post I have written that it is difficult to forget. Yes, it is. Till date I have not forgotten the incident and the words used for me (those things are kept locked in a back chamber of my heart to be visited only on some ‘special’ days).

But I HAVE FORGIVEN THAT PERSON COMPLETELY.

That is the meaning of Holi for me.

Current song- Tere Bina Zindagi Se Koi Shikwa To Nahi – Kishore & Lata