Sparkler Snapshots

XLV | Holiwood

"Holi is the day to express love with colors. It is a time to show affection. All the colors that are on you are of love." – Anonymous

Date: March 1st – 2nd, 2018

Occasion: Holi

Country: India

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XLV | Holiwood

"As the full moon shines high above us, people have started to gather here to celebrate Holi, the festival of colors. The first day has passed, and rituals were performed. All evil spirits have been banished to a distant land, and now, the time approaches to throw some rainbow powder."

"Yawn. Get on with the exciting stuff already. Ya boring."

"I'm just trying to report things as they are! Anyhow, buckets of colored gulal, the powder, are being passed around the crowd. Things are about to go down. This festival comes from the legend of Krishna. The powder throwing is a celebration of Krishna and Radha's love."

"Alright, you know what? I'm taking the mic from you."

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?"

"Like I said before, ya boring. Right, long story short, we're going to chuck colorful perfumed crap at each other in a battle of wills!"

"Well, not really wills, just our throwing aim."

"Stop ruining everything I say! We're on the news, we have to make a good impression. So, Hunger Games, rainbow edition. The rules? Everyone is fair game. Something to do with the legend of Krishna, everyone should be included regardless of age or social status, blah-de-blah."

"The powder also signifies the coming of spring and the new colors brought to nature!"

"If you steal that mic from me again, I'm going to throw powder in your eye."

"Well, now you can carry out that threat, because the battle has begun!"

"Ugh, I just inhaled some of the yellow powder that old guy threw. If that's what snorting cocaine is like, then I'm never doing drugs."

"Fun fact, the gulal used to be made of turmeric, paste, and flower extracts, but it's made out of synthetic materials now, thank the lord. Imagine getting turmeric in your eye."

"Nobody cares about your fun facts! Come on, Sabhya, start throwing powder and have some fun for the first time in your life."

"Sure, fine, I'll just pick up this powder and–"

"What the fuck, dude? Why did you choose to throw powder at me?"

"Firstly, you never specified who I should throw at. Secondly, you're incredibly annoying. Thirdly, you know you just swore on live camera, right?"

"Oh, whatever, you goody-two-shoes. Surprise attack!"

"Ahh! You threw that into my eye, you bastard. Now all I can see is red. Red gulal is supposed to represent fertility and love, Karan! What happened to love?"

"Love has already been struck down in this battle!"

"Wow, that's dark."

"Huh? No, I was talking about that girl over there. Her name's Love, she's in my physics class. She was just bowled over by a huge, muscly guy. Love has been struck down."