Bura Na Mano Holi Hai!

By Shilpi Aggarwal

Hey guys, its holi again. Although I am not avid holi fan, but I strongly feel it’s a unique festival. There is no such festival like holi where you get up early only to get dirty, soiled and drenched. And there you are, elated with mischievous smile, eyeing for the target to splash the colors of fun and frolic. It is the only festival where you try to be in your worst old clothes. All in all, it’s an amazing festival.

But the only thing I loathe about this festival is the weird ritual of balloon throwing which starts two or three weeks before in advance. No, I don’t have anything against your fun but I don’t understand the fun in hurting anyone. I hope, it is needless to say, balloons can hurt the person very badly, in certain cases, it may lead to serious injuries, even loss of eyesight or hearing power.

Girls are the most preferred targets of water balloons during holi. They think twice before step out their homes. In every nook and corner of the city, there is guys hidden eyeing for their prey. On the streets, kids won’t scare of hitting a woman with water filled balloons but they don’t dare to touch a guy. Even, they know that it is only girls who can be their easy victim. What’s more, its not only kids alone but the big guys too behave rowdily. They pack into cars with all their weapons (water and color filled balloons and sometimes, eggs) in place and roam around the city only to find a girl. Sometimes, they forcefully smudge colors on their face (sometimes, to get touchy with the girls!)

Isn’t it disgusting when you are on your way to your workplace or for some important meeting, you made wet by the water balloons? I really don’t understand how you can have cheap and sadistic pleasure from other person’s discomfort.

The other day I was traveling in a bus and the girl sitting besides the windows was tried to hit by the water balloons. Thankfully, the window was closed and no such untoward incident happened. What’s more appalling is when these balloons are sometimes filled with gravels, dirty colors and even with muddy water.

Holi is the festival of fun, frolic and celebration. What kind of celebration is this, where the pleasure lies in hurting somebody? People don’t even realize how they would feel if the same prank is being played out on them. And hey, if you are forcing your friends and near and dear ones into your idea of fun, it’s still acceptable. But, how can you force a stranger into something when he isn’t interested? And, much to my shock, parents don’t see any wrong in these things and don’t teach these basic things to their kids. If you complaint, they would say,”Bura na mano holi hai!”

“On Monday, Ramesh Dave, a senior news editor with Samkaleen, a sister publication of this newspaper, paid dearly for somebody's idea of revelry. He happened to be sitting near the window of a local train, when a stone flung by a miscreant gouged out one of his eyes. This ugly incident recalled a similar one that occurred some years ago, when a young woman travelling in a Mumbai train and who happened to be standing near the doorway, had a water balloon filled with small stones flung at her. The balloon burst and the gravel inside it damaged her eyes irreparably. This time, Mumbai also reported the case of a 10-year-old boy who was smeared with some toxic substances by two young men on a romp. Not only did he lose a clump of his hair and suffer from a painful rash, he was left badly traumatised.

Over the years, the festival of colours has become synonymous with the most vile and violent forms of sexual harassment. A report by the Gender Study Group of Delhi University, based on a survey of sexual harassment on the campus, reported that such attacks reached their peak during Holi. According to this report, some 60.55 per cent of women hostelites of Delhi University complained of aggravated harassment during this festival. Many of them coped with it either by leaving the university before Holi or not stepping out of the hostel during the day. The attacks, the report noted, ranged from throwing balloons from fast-moving vehicles, and molesting women on the pretext of applying colour on them, to throwing condoms filled with water, hurling stones at them or forcibly dunking them in buckets of water. Only 11 per cent of students interviewed felt that the behaviour displayed during Holi was ``normal'' and a part of the spirit of Holi. Not surprisingly, most of the women interviewed reported experiencing the ``fear of being physically assaulted''. There is very little that individuals can do in the face of such organised and widespread barbarism. In fact, even police surveillance can go only so far and no further. The only way this crime can be tackled is by ordinary men and women condemning it in the strongest possible terms and building a strong public opinion against it. For too long has such behaviour masqueraded as traditional Holi revelry. This is to paint the festival of colour in the blackest hue. ” -Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay)Ltd.