Page 23

Holi is also known as the festival of colors. It marks the triumph of good over evil and is a symbol of a new beginning. We burn logs of wood and with that log, we burn away all our worries. I have always celebrated Holi with my family. We would sit around the fire and eat and talk for hours. And the next day, with the ash, me and my cousins would play holi. Drenching each other in the ash. Supposedly, it is good for your skin and stuff.

But the real fun is always the next day. It’s a festival called Rangapanchami. That is when we play with colours and torture each other. Back at home, we would target one person in the household and drench them with concentrated water colours, that colour stains you for days. And even to get it out 50%, you have to wash yourself for 3 hours.

It’s all good fun though.

Thankfully, this year, there is a Holi celebration being organised by the Indian association. They are doing it the same way we used to do it back at home. Only difference, back at home, we would have a drink called thandai- it is similar in taste to lassi- the famous Indian yoghurt drink. But it is laced with weed. And everyone would have to drink a minimum of two glasses. It was compulsory in my house.

Before you judge, that is the only day in the entire day, when it is allowed to do that. Our God- Shiva, used to drink weed. But since it is a no-no in Boston, they are going to lace the drinks with alcohol. It won’t be entirely the same, but I’ll take it.

I had bought entry passes for me, Juju and Jake and had asked the boys if they wanted to accompany me. And the only reason they are coming is because there are water balloons filled with coloured water that you can throw at each other.

James however, is coming for me. It is said that the first person to apply colour on you should be your partner. And James doesn’t know that. But I want to be the first one to apply colour on him.

I prepare myself and my skin and hair for the festival. The dress theme is to wear white clothes. It is impossible to get the colour out of the clothes, so I wear a simple white Indian kurta and white leggings. The event is outdoors and the weather has been in our favour. It is nice and warm and the sun is shining down brightly on us.

Perfect!

I oil my skin and my hair and tie my hair in a pony and ditch all my makeup. I opt for my worst sandals that I want to throw away and white tote bag and put my phone in a plastic cover. I’m holi-ready.

I walk outside of my room to find Jake and Juju standing outside in the living room in their all white clothes. Jake should not have opted for his white jeans!

The place is about half an hour drive from here. And since I want to get wasted, Juju said that she would be the sober police and drive us back. I really wanted to have fun with her!

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When we reach the place, I scan our passes and find the boys and James standing in the centre, in all white and the only ones judging everyone else. There is Bollywood music being blasted in the garden. The lawn has been uprooted and the soil is dried and prepared for all the water it is going to be drenched in. I sneak behind James and pick up some red colour in my hand from one of the colour stands. I make sure that I tip-toe very quietly, since my anklets have dancing bells on them that make noise.

“Happy Holi!” I shout and smother the colour on his face. He is caught by surprise and turns around frantically. I’m not sure if he’s red because of the colour or anger.

But I just can’t stop smiling because I was the first one to apply color on him.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. But that is what Holi is! I had even picked a target for today. George.

I don’t know how to play white-holi. I can’t tone myself down on festivals. But I guess I have to this year. My face falls and I don’t even see the blue colour that is thrown on my face. James. “Let’s get this party started!” George shouts. And Juju squeaks and Jake hoots.

The decoration done here is so similar to the one back in India. There are colour stands. And everyone over 21 gets a red band to get an alcoholic lassi. I am just a few weeks from turning 21 and all I had to do was flash my puppy eyes at the uncle and swear that I had a sober person who was above 21 to take care of me.

Indian uncles are the best when it comes to emotional manipulation. Indian aunties on the other hand…they’re a rock that cannot be fazed by anything.

“Let’s get something to drink first. Rule no. 1- We don’t play Holi sober.” I instruct everyone. “Let’s get our shit on! And also have two sober people to drive us back.” Dan sighs and that tells me that he is the sober police in their group.

We flash our bands at the counter and get our drinks. “Uncle, please make mine extra strong.” I wink at him playfully and he chuckles and winks back.

I grab my drink and turn around dancing and swaying to the beats of a bollywood song. I see George’s mouth wide open and he is staring at me. I raise my brows to make the creep stop staring at me. “Who are you and what did you do to my highness?” He asks and I can’t stop laughing.

“I’m having fun! It’s holi!” I shrug and chug my extra strong boozy lassi. Thankfully the sweetness of the lassi masks the alcohol, so other than the burning sensation, I don’t feel anything.

“You’re day-drinking at 11am on a Friday.”

“Oh get off your high horse. As if you’ve never done it!” I take the yellow colour from the table next to me and throw it on George.

“Riya!” I hear in unison. I turn around to see that the yellow powder is splattered in everyone’s drinks. I’m not going to apologise. The saying of this festival is ‘Bura na mano Holi hai.’ which translates to ‘Please don’t be mad or angry because it’s Holi!’

I flash them an unapologetic smile and wave my shoulders to the beat of the song- Second hand Jawaani. And I feel all eyes on me. This won’t work.

I turn around to the uncle and tell him to make extra strong drinks for everyone except for Dan and Juju.

“She’s trying to get us fucked up.” Sid says as he also joins me in my weird dance. That’s what I need! The festive spirit.

The uncle making the drinks laughs and shakes his shoulders to match me and it seems like everyone is trying to get the gist of it now. The point of the celebration is to let loose and have fun! It’s a Saturday tomorrow anyway, we can think about our actions then. But right now…we have fun!

The song changes to an even bigger banger- Let’s Nacho. It means Let’s Dance. I shout the lyrics of the song and throw my hands in the air and have fun. The uncle makes our drinks and tells me that he made mine special, with a playful wink. He tells me to have fun and the group disperses to the centre where everyone is dancing and throwing colors in the air.

We quickly chug our drinks and chime in.

I see James smile and dance and let loose next to me. I have never seen him dance this openly. I see him laugh and throw water balloons at the boys and me. Me and Juju are doing our own thing, dancing and throwing color in the air.

I pass the message around to everyone secretly that today’s target is George. And the way everyone tortures George is brutal. But I do the worst possible thing to him. I sneak away and get the water colour powder enough to make 10 litres of water color, but I mix it in a small mug. It is so concentrated that it looks foul. And it is a dark pink colour.

George is white as fuck and he’s blonde! His scalp is going to be stained for at least a week and his hair is going to be dyed pink. I signal the boys and everyone holds him down. George is the biggest amongst the guys, so James holds his hands back and Sid holds his shoulders and Dan just stands on the side, recording everything in my phone.

Mine is the only one in a plastic cover and the guys had their phones collected, because they didn’t want it to get wet. I’m smart. But Juju and Jake hoot and shout as I pour the dark-colored water on his head. It drips and falls on James’s hands and he immediately lets go of him.

Dan is on the floor laughing and George is hella pissed. Not angry-pissed, but friendly-pissed. “Oh! I’m going to get you for that!” He chases me and I run in the crowd. He chases me with a plate of purple colour.

He wraps his bicep around my neck and dumps the entire plate on my head and massages the powder in my head. Everyone else aims water balloons at me and I am drenched and the colour seeps into my head.

“Violet…you’re turning Violet!” Juju laughs. Hahaha.

“I hope that was up to the level, your highness.” He lets go of me and bows in front of me. Smug! But fun. So fun!

◆◆◆

I am god knows how many drinks down. I lost count after 5 and I am a multicoloured person. My head is purple, my face is blue, my torso is every colour in the rainbow and thank god I had painted my nails black. We are exhausted and drunk at around 3pm. But I keep dancing. I mingle with every Indian group, even the aunties! Drunk me likes adventures! Or should I say horror?!

James picks me up like a baby, his arms are around my stomach and I keep waving my legs and arms at the aunty as he drags me to the exit. “Alright! I think we’ve had enough!” He says after I ask the aunty what University she got the certificate of being a bitch at. In my defence, she did tell me that I should lose some weight and not wear things that show cleavage two years ago! Oh! I didn’t forget!

“But I…am having…so much fun!” I slur and smile. Those blue eyes…Oh how I could drown in them! I cannot stand straight, so I let myself fall into his arms. I know he will catch me. It feels nice to have someone who cares about you.

“Alrighty, Raven. Let’s get you home.”

I immediately let go of him and narrow my eyes at him. How dare he not take advantage of me being drunk? What am I even thinking?!

“Oh! No. No. No. No. We are not going home. We are GOING home!” I say smiling and nodding. George is just as fucked up as me and is being hailed on Dan’s shoulder. Thankfully, Dan is the second most buffed guy amongst these men.

George shouts in agreement and suddenly I think that I said something very sensible and meaningful.

James scoops me up in his arms. “Alright. Let’s GO home.” I smile and nod at him.

I wrap my arms around him as I let my head fall back. I am so hungry and horny and drunk. I don’t know what to focus on. So, I act on my instinct. “When we go back I’m going to fuck you so hard that you will forget your own name James…Marcus…Williams…Marcus…James…Williams…” I say and keep smiling.

◆◆◆

I wake up with a pounding headache on the bathroom floor of James’ room. His arms are wrapped around my waist and I’m using his bicep as a pillow. He’s buffed enough to do that. Muscular and squishy. I move closer to him. How did we end up here? We’re both fully clothed and still covered in colour, but it’s still dark, maybe it’s still night.

So I snuggle close to James and wrap my arms around him and doze back. Only one scent envelops me. I have only one thought. One feeling. One name.

James.