Holi - Colourful Thoughts

 We do see life through a coloured lens. All the colours are present in our life, and make their presence felt through everything we experience- not just on the day of Holi. Here's to a life full of colours you like. Some representative pics-

Snorkeling, and below, guzzling

Sunrise at Chikhaldara..

Chilli above, and fire, below. Maya and Khayal, look on.

Real banjaran, above, and Ojaswee jewelry, below

The Khandala ghat, above, and Raneh Falls, below

Sanjana's wedding, above, and Jorhat with Rani Khound, below

Dipi and Anu, her son's wedding-above

Veronica and Prashant Bharadwaj, at Prestige, Indore, below

DDLJ moment, Kashmir and Royal sofa, Gulmarg

Pretty students, Prestige, and some colleagues at Gwalior Prestige, below.

Bird, Ramoji studios and flowers, Pune

My bff Savitha, Bangalore, and Meghana, Pune

Fashion students, NIFT and below, Sohni Roy, at an IIM Indore visit

Holistic Approach to Life

 Today is the festival of Holi in India. So, naturally, I had to think about the word holistic. I don't remember when I heard the word first, maybe in the 80s while doing my M.B.A. Some other words from the same period were Value Engineering, M.R.P. (later turned into E.R.P.), Positioning, and lots more.

Returning to holistic, that's a view of anything, a more rounded, broad view. So if one were to look at the Corona pandemic, a holistic view would include all stakeholders, including government (worldwide) which learnt (hopefully) that welfare of its people, including healthcare and hygiene, comes before economics, no matter what the Pink papers have to say. Hospitals and healthcare industry, which learnt that R and D has a major role to play, and many frontiers remain unconquered.

The common man in many countries learnt how responsive his government (elected, in democracies) was to his pain. We all learnt to live digitally, order food online, educate our kids online, and work from home. Pollution on roads and in factories declined, weather improved as a result, and some positive effects on health were felt in urban areas.

We also lived with no major congregations for any reason, proving it can be done. Also without international travel- discretionary- and it did not affect us as much as we imagined. Of course, the tourism industry took a hit, and the hospitality sector. And airlines-but most of the airlines always have a yoyoing life, economically, even without a pandemic. 

The biggest negative was not being able to meet classmates, colleagues (those we like and dislike!), teachers, and relatives and friends, whenever we wanted to. A big loss! Hopefully we will get back!

Holi Matrimony

Some thoughts about Holi and matrimony.

Both are colourful, especially the clothes bought/coloured and the language used in marital fights (the martial arts).

Both are confusing. Which day is Holi, exactly, for instance? And who is to cook in the married household, for instance.

Holi gives you excuses for chhed-chhad. Or used to, before various laws were enacted to take better care of women. Now, one less excuse to be inebriated with ''manly" power, I guess.

Just when you thought all the Holi songs had been written, there comes another. I think Ranbir and Deepika starred in one recently. On marriage, there are only jokes. Bollywood (happy) songs are all pre-marriage. What is the significance of that?

Marriage is supposed to provide security. And it promotes GDP growth. How? Married couples need a house, a car, a fridge, a washing machine, a cooking gas, restaurants, work to pay all the bills,...

So all you need to do to increase GDP growth to Chinese levels and beyond...you guessed it. Promote holy matrimony.

Election Graffiti

Elections are usually the time for acerbic wit, and even usually docile people suddenly get animated. Some of the gems that keep popping up have to do with nicknames- Pappu, Pheku, Maut ka saudagar,  and so on.

A new title was coined after the very notorious weapon of mass destruction, aka the AK-47. This one is known as AK-49, named after the party founder who first did a sit-in, and then a walk-out from his own government, all in just 49 days. His cap and muffler have provided wonderful fodder to all the cartoonists around. A cartoon showed NaMo cough syrup as an antidote to his recalcitrant cough.

The case of the pot calling the kettle black is also pretty prevalent. Every party blames the other for all kinds of omissions and commissions (I am not referring to commissions of enquiry here, they are a saga unto themselves), as if they are comprised of saints and Mahatmas.  I wonder if the holier-than-thou posturing comes from having celebrated Holi recently! It is quite amusing to see banalities and generalities being bandied around with gay (used in a hetero context) abandon.

But the bottomline for me is that the election continuing to be fought every five years on the same issues, even after 65 odd years. Gives you a feeling of having been gypped, doesn't it?

Holi and the Colours of Life

Holi is a unique festival in that it symbolizes the colours of life. A rainbow that life usually presents all of us with. From the moment we arrive in the world with a cry, to the myriad happenings- some expected and planned, many unexpected twists, joys, sorrows and in-betweens, right till the end.

Bringing in exuberance and a community spirit that is hard to maintain in the self-obsessed society most of us live in, it is a great chance to revisit the meaning of life. Particularly community life. Interdependence of people and people, nature and people and so on. We actually depend on nature a lot more than we think. If water were to run out, humanity may cease to exist pretty quickly. Tornadoes and tsunamis, and landslides and earthquakes kill people even in advanced nations.

Hope that peace will reign in the world instead of war, and that each of us will win the war within keeps us going at all times. Holi is as good a time as any to introspect, and redefine our goals in life. Whatever they might be. Happy Holi, everyone on the planet.