Shrishti Reborn

Chapter 12. The Day of Dhulendi

'Happy Holi Pappa!', Shrishti called out as she applied colour to her dad's cheek. It was the day after the college holi party and Shrishti woke up early excited. In her last life, these festivals were never important to Shrishti. It was something ordinary. But after coming back to past, Shrishti wanted to enjoy every moment of her life. Because it was only after one lost everything that one realised its value. And now, Shrishti appreciated every event in her life and wanted to enjoy her life to the fullest.

Her Pappa eagerly applied colour to her cheeks and Shrishti turned to her Dadi. She wished her Dadi and applied colour to her cheeks too. Dadi applied colour on her cheeks. After that, Shrishti went to the kitchen to grab something to eat.

'What is the hurry?', Pappa followed her, looking curious, 'Go to your room. Take bath. Get dressed and then come and eat properly with us on the dining table.'

Shrishti shook her head as she shovelled some cooked oats into her mouth, 'Pappa! I am already dressed. Can't you see?'

Pappa looked at her from top to bottom before frowning, 'Why are you wearing such an old outfit? And why is your hair tied into such an ugly bun?'

Shrishti chuckled, 'Pappa! I am going out to play holi!'

'With whom?', Pappa still sounded confused. His confusion was valid, Shrishti mused. Shrishti did not have any friends to play holi with in their society.

'Arpit invited me to play with Megha!', Shrishti informed her father.

Pappa smiled, 'Aha! Good. Good. Those kids are good kids. Especially Megha.'

Shrishti smiled, 'Even I like Megha a lot. She is really sweet.'

'Enjoy yourself. But be careful. Don't get hurt.', her Pappa warned her. She nodded and he walked away.

Just then her phone pinged and Shrishti checked it. It was her social media app. She grinned and clicked the messages. Food_lover11 and Shashi both had wished her Happy Holi. She wished them back before messaging Divya and Daljeet and her other class friends who had added her to their friend list the day before. She got reply right away from some of them. She put her phone back in her pocket before she finished her oats and ran off.

Shrishti grabbed her bag filled with water balloons and other paraphernalia. She got out of the house and walked to the neighbouring house. Her eyes lit up when she saw Arpit and Megha already outside on the lawn of their house attacking each other with pichkaris before refilling them with water from buckets left nearby.

'Hi guys!', Shrishti shouted. The brother sister duo turned towards her. But instead of greeting her, both of them sprayed the coloured water at her. She squealed and turned around, letting the water drench her back. Once the water spraying stopped, Shrishti turned back and glared at them.

'How cruel!', she huffed with her hands on her hips.

Arpit and Megha laughed before Megha said in a sweet voice, 'Pari Di! Bura na maano holi hai! Don't take it to your heart because it is holi! Happy Holi, Didi!'

'You silly girl!', Shrishti growled before she sprang forward and grabbed the girl by her waist. She dragged her to the table nearby on which lots of plates filled with different colours were placed. She slapped her hand on one of them and rubbed that hand over Megha's whole face.

'Oye!', Arpit roared before he went back to the water bucket and started to refill his pichkari. Shrishti swiftly let go of Megha and grabbed her own bag. In her bag, there were some balloons that she filled with coloured water the evening before, before going to bed. Arpit turned towards her with filled pichkari but before he could spray the coloured water on her, she had already pelted him with the water balloons. He shrieked as he dropped his gun and ran away to escape her wrath. But her aim remained as accurate as it was the day before and despite Arpit running helter-skelter, Shrishti did not waste a single balloon. Every single one of them hit Arpit and at every hit Arpit shrieked. Megha stood nearby watching her brother run and chortled loudly. She clapped when Arpit ended up running into the house to escape the balloons.