Here's a memory from 2017 for my Indian fiends, who are missing my Covid-delayed travel photos. What a fun day !!
Take care guys !
- Mark
For my non-Indian friends, Holi is an annual spring-time festival, very popular in India, and as important as Christmas is to us as an annual celebration. Key to all of this, Holi is the Festival of Color. To give you an idea of where we are headed, this is a "before" photo...note the very bright yellow shirts my buddies have, and the brand new, very black hat on the one.
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
Holi-Houston is the largest Holi celebration in the USA, and it's held at the Houston Farm & Ranch Club (Clay Road at Hwy 6, in west Houston).
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
Here the DJ has just taken the stage and is calling people over to begin the program. They said they expected 15,000 people.
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
As you see on my buddie's faces in the first photo at the top, you begin to throw or rub color onto friends, or any fellow party-goer you want, from the very beginning. We received our first colors from the girls at the gate who were greeting everyone and wishing them "Happy Holi !!" Even here, early in the party, there are plenty of colorful faces.
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
And then the DJ begins to crank things up, Indian music, with a loud, thumping base, and lots of color. Part of the theme of Holi is equality and inclusiveness, as the color flies, the races and skin colors of the participants become quickly blurred, we are all one, we are all equal.
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
At a quick break, you can see two of my buddies above. I was using those very bright yellow shirts to help me keep track of them in the crowd, as I moved around taking photos. But, it would only work for so long...
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
The color continues to fly. One gringo sees me taking photos, and asks if I want to take one of him throwing color on his girlfriend. She was unfortunately smiling at the time, I asked her what the color tasted like, she said "...not good..."
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
There were a few gringos at the party. I realized this morning that I was aware of how many white and other non-Indian people attended, not because I was seeing them, but because the DJ, as part of his inclusive message, was asking people to raise hands if non-Indian, asking them to shout out where they were from, even asking a few to come on stage and join the dancing.
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
Some "gringo"...
...some "go-green"...
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
And the party continued, more music...the crowd danced and sang to most of the songs...
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
...until, as you can see, skin color becomes pretty unimportant...
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
... everyone dances...
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
Until, as you can see, the transformation is pretty much complete. The big fellow below on the left is my friend Arijit (same fellow on the left in the top photo), bright no-longer-yellow shirt, and a hat that is everything but black.
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
It was cool. The "magic" of the color works. The crowd was at least 80-85% Indian, with the rest being other south-Asians, and a few gringos. I felt perfectly at home.
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
Here's the formerly black hat again...my hat was quite similar (and shirt, shoes, face, etc...)
 |
Photo by Mark W. Laughlin
|
 |
Photo by my friend Anand J.
|
My buddies. We all had a great time !!
- Mark W. Laughlin
Taken from the Holi-Houston home page:
...The
other legend talks about the immortal love between Radha and the Hindu God
Krishna. Krishna was a prince and Radha was the daughter of a shepherd. They
were childhood friends and grew up playing on the streets of Mathura.
When he was a
teenager, Krishna’s concern about the color of his dark skin grew and he
wondered whether the fair-skinned Radha would still like him. One day his
mother asked him to put color on Radhas face, suggesting to him that their
differences were only superficial. Fascinated by the idea, Krishna playfully
colored himself and Radha with different colors, giving birth to their love and
the tradition of Holi. Once colored, they were the same. No rich or poor, no
fair or dark, no king or commoner. All that remained was the feeling of love
and togetherness. This is why at Holi, people play with colors, promoting
peace, tolerance, and a sense that we are all one
