India; Unity in Diversity

These are some of the important festivals of India. Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja, Diwali, Holi.

Of these, Holi is my favorite because it is full of fun and laughter. It is a day of spraying colors on everyone. That day nobody wears their best dress because it will get color-stained 😮 . Holi is known as the festival of colors, and the colors overcome the barriers of language and convey true feelings. The colors also convey a message.
Green: Compassion and understanding and a symbol of prosperity.
Yellow: Optimism. It is also regarded as an auspicious color. The color Yellow is associated with Mother Earth.
Red: The color of fire, the source of energy and security.
Blue: Loyalty and trust.
Pink: Love and compassion. (so if you find ur lover, you can spray this color!)

While I was in hostel, we never waited to buy color powder, we used to make a paste of all kind of mud and dirt in a bucket and shower on anyone 😈

Let me tell about the festival of my state (Kerala). It is not a religious festival, but a festival in memory of a mythical King MahaBali (Maveli) who ruled Kerala eons back. Legend is that he was so famous that gods became jealous and send God Vishnu to send him down to the netherworld. Anyways, before sending him down, Vishnu gave King Maha Bali a boon to visit his people once in a year. This day we celebrate as Onam, to welcome Mahabali.

Usually early morning that day we all go out, collect flowers and make floral carpets (atha-pookkalam) as show in the picture). It is a time of joy and fun and celebrations and games for everyone. Schools and colleges have 10 day holidays during this time.