Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Holi-er than thou

It is the Indian festival Holi tomorrow. They play it by smearing some dry color in vibrant hues like red, green, magenta, yellow (lemon and cadmium both the shades, I mean you name it they have it) on each other's face, clothes. It makes for a very colorful spectacle all the shops selling bright colors and water pistols which are kids fave.

They fill the water pistol with water and then empty it on some unsuspecting soul passing by.

One thing thats really not good is the use of water balloons. Unsuspecting school/college girls are at the recieving end of this practice by kids and most times goons. The festival seems to give them a licence to leer and smear while saying the adage that goes with this festival - ' Dont mind this because its Holi..

Women who use public transport dread this wonderful festival because of this ugly twist to it. The law is getting stricter by the day though. The kid is out there in the balcony emptying the teeny-weeny water pistol on the potted plants I have outside. That takes care of the watering chore for me hahaa.

I've been trying my hand at various things that I'd never tried before in life. Making some traditional Holi delicacies being one and come 2009 I tried my hand at pickles. I took it up as a challenge. And God was I surprised when it turned out ok. So I got carried away and now have pickled lemon, pickled Indian gooseberry, pickled green chillies all on my shelf with a Indian gooseberry jam bottle too. For Holi I made some fried hard crackers -(mathi) and Gujhiya( Traditional Indian Sweet Puff) which is made of refined white flour kneaded and then rolled out to actually rolling it into small circles , then stuffed and folded/sealed (stuffing is usually Powdered sugar as per taste, Cardamom powder, coconut powder, Dry fruits - pistachios, almonds, sultana's etc) And of course then deep fried like the crackers.

It took all day yesterday and two hours today to wrap it off. Hmm not bad - I liked the experience. I am constantly amazed at myself. From being a diehard feminist in college and radical/rebel against the stereotypical roles cut out for women in the Indian society- to fighting the caste system of this country, I have come a long way.

Actually die hard feminism in India some years ago just translated into wearing westerns, and not accepting the gender unequality prevalent in the home, the street, the school/college and then later the office. If you did this then you were a feminist. Now I have changed and how.
Cooking is pretty theraupatic just like gardening I feel.
Ok guys happy Holi to all of you!
:)

7 comments:

  1. hmm,i love gujias...mail me some hehe,not much of a holi person but my mom and are suckers for waterballoons(at the throwing end and not the receiving lol).Happy holi !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Happy Holi to you too!
    Yup me too, I mean I would like to throw balloons if at all and not be at the recieving end..Hope you had a great Holi :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. hey, just wanted to drop you a comment to day your blog is really interesting well done, and keep up the good work :) xx AJ

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy holi to you too, dear troublemaker :)
    sorry about the delay

    And dear human kind of human,
    I will be back soon. sorry

    ReplyDelete
  5. hey I still love your blog just thought I'd let you know I've rebuilt my blog :) AJ xx

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice blog.... you have here...

    Myself being a south Indian I have never celebrated holi in the sence of throwing colors anyway...

    and I always loved my mom's special dishes, she cooks during the festivities....

    And I can understand the Idea of cooking and clothes becoming associated with feminism but I believe feminism is much more father and deeper than that....

    try this, if you wanna know what I mean..


    http://average-everyday.blogspot.com/2009/04/short-stories-55-fiction.html

    ReplyDelete