Holi

So far, my favorite moment of each day here is just after I get out of the shower. It's hot here. Hot as blood. And, after getting up a few times in the night to give the ceiling fan a hard push to get it going again and drinking a half gallon of water here and there - the best thing in the world at that moment is to jump in a cold shower. Being covered in cold water helps life get good again. After that, I'm happy to sit with a book, the rousing birds, and my jet lag before the day starts.

I don't sleep well in heat.

Maybe sometime I'll tell you about when my family went camping in southern Louisiana in the summer. In the mean time, feel free to let your imagination work up the horror that came to pass that night.

Yesterday was the second day of Holi, which made me happy to get in the shower for another reason. Holi is the festival of color, for reasons that wikipedia doesn't really help ellucidate. The most noticeable feature of the holiday have to be children running around with water guns filled with colored water, and packets of color powder. Interestingly enough, wikipedia does suggest that these colors used to have semi-medicinal value, green coming from neem, yellow from turmeric, and red from kumkum - all plant products with demonstrated health benefits. These days though, toxic ingredients are what make up these bright dyes - not the least of which include mercury, asbestos and silica.

Still, it's fun to paint each other like easter eggs. So, that's what we did. On the roof. 10, wait, now 11, now 14 kids on the roof spraying each other with colored water. Thankfully this is how the Ashraya folks play Holi. Not in the streets.

Around town, no one, including the policeman pictured above in the BBC photo series, is safe from the little spectrum-happy miscreants. Liz, the lady in charge here, says that she's even been attacked while riding in a covered rickshaw.

After playing for an hour or so, it was nice to get in the shower again and wash the dye down the drain.