Today was the Holi Festival, celebrated by throwing water, dye and paint all over each other in the streets! So being stuck in the wrong hotel with good clothes on worried the hell out of me. I had to wait until 7am when the gate was unlocked and I could actually leave back to my hotel! Luckily the festival didn't really start til about 9, by which time I had donned my old t-shirt and white hippie pants.
I was soon slapped in the face by the hotel guys, their hands covered with red paint. They armed me with water bombs and a handful of dye. Hesitantly I entered the street to join a large gang of kids that were pretty excited having me with them, giving me a "happy holi" greeting - rubbing dye all over me. Together we did a circuit of Thamel, bombing tourists and painting the streets red. When the buckets were empty they started using the puddles, most of which were coloured and muddy. Reinforcements arrived, two kids with a bucket of paint! They looked like they had spray-painted themselves.
Most shops were closed bar a few outdoor restaurants which were having the chairs repainted. Everyone was getting pretty involved - people were throwing buckets of water off the roof! I saw a lot of tourists become quite unhappy when their good clothes got ruined. Don't know why they'd expect to get around without getting hit! Some were cautiously carrying cameras wrapped in plastic bags.
Being a national water fight, its obvious that things get a little dangerous. Motorbike riders were a highly prized target. I saw a pom stack it pretty badly in the main street with great cheers from everyone else. But the Nepalis went absolutely crazy when girls walked past, particularly one wearing a white t-shirt! People would walk in groups, so when you'd pass them they would all gather around you and just pelter you with dye, rubbing it all over your face. A french lady went nuts when a kid rubbed dye on her breasts. Another, sick of the festival, starting slapping someone yelling "happy holi". She had to be dragged away crying by her boyfriend! The Nepali women were smarter, staying at home or throwing water from the rooftop.
Covered in dye, I was over the whole commotion early in the afternoon. Keen for some lunch, the only places I could go to were right in the centre of the action! I had to bring my camera, the pictures were outweighing the risk of damaging it. Plus I discovered a small scratch on the LCD screen from when I was in the bat caves. I freaked out when I first saw it as I thought it was a scratch in the lens, but everything still works ok.
There was a bar next to the rooftop restaurants, 2 stories higher, so everyone was drinking and throwing dye/water onto the diners below. A few people get a handful of dye in their food. I was keen to go up and have a beer with the harrassers, but the 200 rupees I'd been carrying in my pocket had been nicked when I was getting dyed! Little bastards. 200 rupees is only about 3 dollars but to me it was a hard-earned beer!
It took quite a long time to get all the colour off me as I had to scrub hard and the dye was literally coming out of my ears! I was a bit worried as I was to have dinner with Ravi tonight and didn't want to look like a painter. But of course straight after my shower I get a phone call in the lobby from the office. "I'm sorry sir but tonights dinner with Ravi is cancelled. Ravi is dead". What??? "It will have to be postponed, maybe next month". Ummm... wouldn't that be a bit hard? After a long series of questions i discovered that Ravi is fine, but his Aunty died and he is cremating her down by the river.
