holi '09
ticket to asha-stanford holi (student version): $13
protective 'rain'-gear for camera: $8
the photo-taking experience: priceless :)
(yes, forgive the cheese. please!)
i admit. holi is a weakness. i can't let a year go by without a holi to mark it with. so glad that holi does come back every year, phew! or so i feel today :). yesterday, i was about ready to skip this year's holi, skip the photo-taking experience, skip the colors, skip everything to stay home. brrr, the thought!
i'm oh, so glad that a agreed to go with. had she not, perhaps i wouldn't have ended up there. perhaps not that early, perhaps not so enthusiastically, perhaps... once i did get there, i realized how much i loved being there. and what holi really meant to me. the rest is now history :).
holi isn't just another festival (to me, that is). i remember when growing up, i'd always call it my favorite festival, when everyone else seemed to like diwali better (i don't know why we were ranking festivals in the first place though :). i've always loved the onset of spring, growing up in delhi. and holi was the marker for it, always. not only, it was also that one day in the year that everyone got together, and i mean everyone. everyone in the neighborhood, and even in the not so neighborly neighborhoods, would add a touch of color to their lives. and each other's. dry color or wet, warm days or cold, holi seemed always to unite against all odds.
and today, as i pretended to be invisible, to walk through people camera in hand, i couldn't help but marvel at the love that shone through. faces i ran into on other occasions smiled an extra mile at holi. we met, we talked, we laughed, then went our ways. there was naught but love to be felt, through and through. everyone was a friend, not mere stranger or acquaintance.
it was a beautiful sunny day, and it was really the ultimate luxury for me to be doing as i was doing, and in so many ways. taking pictures was bliss, of course, but also - being able to take pictures of anyone and everyone. for today, no one cared. i wish every day could be like this - i would smile at an arbitrarily picked person, point my camera at them, they would smile back, or pose even, i would click, and we would walk on. no really, every day could be like this. it is all i'd ever need.
i had given h my word that i would go today, that i would take pictures for asha. somehow, this added much to the experience, for to do the job well i could no longer favor my friends. the effort to be non-discriminating made the photo-taking that much more fulfilling, for it allowed me to forget who i was and who my friends were. forgetting who i knew/who knew me also helped. and then, the camera, myself, and the world were one. i kid you not.
i left early. not because i had to, and not because i'd filled up my memory card. strangely, there was no craving to do more and more of what brought so much joy. nor was there any aversion, at all, to soaking up the beautiful spring sunshine and indulging in my favorite exercise at my favorite venue. duh. but there was a deep satisfaction, and a feeling of having done my duty. and that was enough. the smugmug album has nearly 250 photos to show for 2.5 hours. enough, indeed. you agree?
protective 'rain'-gear for camera: $8
the photo-taking experience: priceless :)
(yes, forgive the cheese. please!)
i admit. holi is a weakness. i can't let a year go by without a holi to mark it with. so glad that holi does come back every year, phew! or so i feel today :). yesterday, i was about ready to skip this year's holi, skip the photo-taking experience, skip the colors, skip everything to stay home. brrr, the thought!
i'm oh, so glad that a agreed to go with. had she not, perhaps i wouldn't have ended up there. perhaps not that early, perhaps not so enthusiastically, perhaps... once i did get there, i realized how much i loved being there. and what holi really meant to me. the rest is now history :).
holi isn't just another festival (to me, that is). i remember when growing up, i'd always call it my favorite festival, when everyone else seemed to like diwali better (i don't know why we were ranking festivals in the first place though :). i've always loved the onset of spring, growing up in delhi. and holi was the marker for it, always. not only, it was also that one day in the year that everyone got together, and i mean everyone. everyone in the neighborhood, and even in the not so neighborly neighborhoods, would add a touch of color to their lives. and each other's. dry color or wet, warm days or cold, holi seemed always to unite against all odds.
and today, as i pretended to be invisible, to walk through people camera in hand, i couldn't help but marvel at the love that shone through. faces i ran into on other occasions smiled an extra mile at holi. we met, we talked, we laughed, then went our ways. there was naught but love to be felt, through and through. everyone was a friend, not mere stranger or acquaintance.
it was a beautiful sunny day, and it was really the ultimate luxury for me to be doing as i was doing, and in so many ways. taking pictures was bliss, of course, but also - being able to take pictures of anyone and everyone. for today, no one cared. i wish every day could be like this - i would smile at an arbitrarily picked person, point my camera at them, they would smile back, or pose even, i would click, and we would walk on. no really, every day could be like this. it is all i'd ever need.
i had given h my word that i would go today, that i would take pictures for asha. somehow, this added much to the experience, for to do the job well i could no longer favor my friends. the effort to be non-discriminating made the photo-taking that much more fulfilling, for it allowed me to forget who i was and who my friends were. forgetting who i knew/who knew me also helped. and then, the camera, myself, and the world were one. i kid you not.
i left early. not because i had to, and not because i'd filled up my memory card. strangely, there was no craving to do more and more of what brought so much joy. nor was there any aversion, at all, to soaking up the beautiful spring sunshine and indulging in my favorite exercise at my favorite venue. duh. but there was a deep satisfaction, and a feeling of having done my duty. and that was enough. the smugmug album has nearly 250 photos to show for 2.5 hours. enough, indeed. you agree?
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