Holi

Yesterday was Holi. It is a Hindu festival of colours, coinciding with the full-moon. It is generally celebrated by children, but everyone was getting involved anyway. I heard the main tourist area Thamel had totally shut down, and the military were out with bamboo sticks, most probably to whack anybody who dared throw paint. As I walked down the street, boys with silver faces, red hair and paint clinging to their eyelashes came up to me and smeared red paint on my cheeks, forehead and nose shouting "happy Holi!"
I went to a care centre/ boarding house for kids called J and K House with a bunch of other volunteers and got murdered by a rainbow. The kids were armed with bags of powdered paint, and proceed to throw them at our faces, in our hair,on our clothes, and smear it all over our faces. Water (bucket loads) was added, and we dripped technicolour water all over the pavement.
Soon the paint ran out, we all lost steam, and settled down for lunch on the lawn. I am beginning to develop a level of tolerance to spice, managing two helpings of spicy bean soup.
Drenched, with paint up our noses, in our ears, and staining our socks, we staggered out the gate to wait for a van to pick us up. Which never came. This was typical of Nepali time keeping, if something is due to arrive in five minutes, it often turns up half an hour later. As it did on this day. Droves of motorbikes roared down the road, the drivers faces painted like skeletons and monsters. They reminded me of the American group Insane Clown Posse, but Nepali and on bikes http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Twiztid-Insane-Clown-Posse.jpg

Then, an old crazy man turned up, covered in paint, and proceeded to crawl around the group blessing our feet and heads with yellow paint, touching his chest and pointing to the sky. When I returned the gesture back to him, he tried to put more paint on my shoes. He made himself comfortable just in front of me, and while we tried to ignore him, he kept blessing our feet. I am probably really holy with Holi right now. AND THEN a group of drunk men turned up with drums and cymbals and started a party. One man put on a show, and did this ridiculously fast pelvic thrust dance. It would have been more enjoyable if we were not sitting at his feet with this hip dance level with our heads.

A day after Holi, and my neck is green and yellow, my feet are green, and there is oil-based blue paint in my hair. I just looked at my arm, and oh! I have red stains on my arm too.

A typical conversation held on the street, when you are walking past somebody selling wares:

-"Hello namaste, how are you?"

-Namaste I am fine thank-you, how are you?"

-"I am fine thank-you"

-"Ok good-bye"

(All spoken in quick succession)