Nostalgia-i Holi !!!! 25 years back, in a small sheepish town called, Ranchi ( now the capital of Jharkhand), the preparation for Holika Dahan, (Agja in the local dilect), used to take at least a fortnight from the date of the Holi Eve. The Young men in the locality used to move in bands with Tins and metal boxes in hands, beating them to get earthly musical beats, from one house to the other in the locality, asking for wood from each household. The chorus which accompanied the movement of such bands went like this, Chahe Lakdi De Chahe Goytha De. ( Either give wood or cow dung cake). Each house used to have good quantities of these, for LPG fuel was yet to be in common use.Those, who, obliged was welcomed, those who did not, used to be ensured that night raids were carried out to those houses in search of unattended wooden furniture kept in the vicinity of such houses and before minutes lapsed, those furniture were made to disappear and then dismantled beyond reorganization, only to be brought to the light to be lighted in the Agja. In absence of Home bound sources of confined entertainment during those times ( round the clock TV, Cable, Computers etc), locality celebration used to be the only and wholehearted mode of celebration, and people of the locality, used to await eagerly for each of such occasions, AGJA used to be one such occasion. The menu for dinner for that occasion in every house hold was almost the same- Rice ( Arwa variety, a delicacy, as the variety of rice in regular consumption, used to be the Usna), Kadhi-Badi, with of lots of curd ( Kadhi Pakoda in Delhi) and Bajka ( many varieties of Pakodas, made of potato, brinjal, onion, cauliflower, bottle-gourd etc). The next morning, every year, frantic searches used to be made for older-dumped clothes, to be used finally while playing Holi. The gender segregation was rigid and infallible. Girls moved in all girls toli and the boys in all boys ones. These bands could not intermix while playing Holi. The Boys toli had free run in choice of Holi Ointments-colors, mud and even Mobil. In a multi-colored state, the band used to roam around from one place to the other singing and dancing with occasional sloganeering, Jogi Ra Sa Ra Ra Ra and many times it also included in its ambit Sher-o shayari with strictly A content. The best part used to be the visits of such bands to each houses to greet the elders for blessings and to bless the youngsters. Each house used to offer similar delicacies to eat which included- Pua ( sweet puri), Foot-Puri ( Puri stuffed with boiled gram pulse), Mutton, Aloo Dum, and Dahi Vada ( Dahi Bhalle in Delhi) etc. Once the play was over, it was the turn to go back home and to work hard for hours to get back the original faces. The unlayering of multiple colors used to be the most torturous part of celebration. In the evening,attired in new clothes, once again it used be occasions for visits to neighboring households to devour delicacies of a wide variety. And yes, All our Holi used to start without any Gabbar Singh questiong, Holi Kab Hai, Kab Hai Holi??? or Any attack on our locality by horse mounted weapon welding dacoits, led by Gabbar Singh. Have a wonderful Holi !!!! :)
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 04:52:51 +0000
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