Experience of Holi, 2007.

somnath

Hi,
Hope ‘Bhang’ has come down and the hangover is over…….. and I am back from a short trip from a very small and remote village called “Garh Jaipur”. Please do not search here in web, it is not that Rajasthani Jaipur / Hotel or something; may be some entry can be found in census report ha ha ha….. It is a Santhal village of Purulia, West Bengal. It was my colleague who told me about a festival of folk dance / tribal songs / Baul / Jhumur / Chandeya / Budhuni and many more. Interesting isn’t it? And let me tell you, from my personal experience I know the landscape of Purulia during this part of the year – it is unique !!!! This is the time of Palash and Shimul flowers and a forest of Palash looks like a furnace of red flame. It is not so easy to describe the beauty in words. Moreover, some sweet memories of my childhood are related with Purulia. We used to stay there and it was a chance to revisit the place after almost 20 years. So without wasting too much time I just grabbed the idea.

2nd March Friday:
6.00 pm – left the office (after a real struggle) and reached Esplanade. I knew that a tough overnight bus journey is waiting for us so it is the time to have some light and easy to digest food. Can you suggest anything other than Biriyani and Kebab from Amina? No. hmmmmm….. I knew it. After those heavenly food it was the time for other friends.

9.00 pm:
Team size 8 (earlier I was informed that we’ll be 3 or 4). Hmmmm….. Anyway, we moved towards the bus stop and found the bus is waiting ( plz don’t ask me the condition of the bus). It is the only bus which will go Garh Jaipur (a few KM away from Purulia).

10.00 pm
It was overloaded by local passengers and people like us. Interesting thing is that almost 75% of them are students. Now you can imagine the situation inside that bus. The journey was pretty smooth and we all really enjoyed the comments / songs / teasing / pseudo-war / jokes…. What a beginning !!!! Just love it. It must be mentioned that rest of our friends (those 6 guys) were just great – they didn’t take much time to make me feel that I am with my friends. BTW, the rout is like : Esplanade > Aarambag > Bankura > Purulia > Garh Jaipur (around 400 KM).

3rd March 6.00 am:
Reached Garh Jaipur. Temperature says it was raining yesterday. Had some tea and started for the spot – “Deuldihi” / “Deulhata” which is 4 Km (approx). As soon as we started walking towards the destination a tractor came in front of us and offered a lift. Wow what a lovely offer !!!! That tractor was going to the river to collect sand. We all along with the other team started. Have you ever tried a journey on a carrier attached to a tractor in a river bank? Hmmmmmm….. then it is not possible to understand the torture. IT WAS LIKE A HELL, you know?
Finally we managed to reach there. There are 3 stupas and a temple in that village and it was amazing that those were built during the era of Guptas – the architecture is really very interesting (I’ll show you those pix). We crossed the river ‘Kanshai’ (Kangsavati) he he….. do you want to know the water level? It didn’t touch my knees even. We got a room in the local school after some discussion and all. Then we went towards the canteen (tent) for breakfast. Had some Puri & sabji and started exploring the place. The atmosphere is great !!!! people are gathered ….. playing with the colors….. dancing / singing in small groups – just marvelous. Another good thing is that no watercolor or anything except Abir (gulal) is allowed there. I mean there is no rule but no one is using anything other than those color powders. Very healthy holi celebration if someone is not ready to accept colors, no problem, no one is going to force or no one is going to take any chance to capitalize the holi (you know what I mean) .

Went for a loooong walk beside the river, had some Mahua (hmmmm…. Cant tolerate the smell but participation was not bad) enjoyed a workshop on folk song / dance took some pix. The workshop was organized by a group form Indian Art College and they are the main organizer of this wonderful festival. After lunch we took some rest on the charland of the river.

6.00 pm:
Evening session begins with Jhumur. Then Natua followed by Chhou from Mayurbhanj (Orissa) ….. Chhou from Purulia and so on. The whole night celebration absolutely packed with so many lovely items. Immediately after the dinner we gathered for Santhali song with the beats of Madal wow what an experience!!!! The atmosphere was so addictive that the audience started dancing with the beats. Just try to imagine the situation – full moon night, hills of Ayodhya at background, Kangshavati river is flowing beside and that magical sound of madal (drums) and plenty of mahua to add a dreamlike effect - incredible just incredible !!!!

4th March 10.00 am:
Time has come to say goodbye, need to wait for another one year to experience this wonderful event called (officially) “Palash Parbon” at Garh Jaipur. There is a train (Hatia - Kharagpur) at 11.50 which is our target.
We availed that train and came down to Midnapur at 5.10 pm. There was a local train at 5.45 pm to come down to Howrah.

That’s the end of a very short but unforgettable trip of my life. I am thankful to my colleague and his lovely group for allowing me to share this wonderful experience. Garh Jaipur is a destination during Holi, there is no doubt about it.

Did you enjoy your Holi? Plz share your experience.

Cheers,
Somnath

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My Travel Pix...1
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Prashant.M

Nice post Somnathji. Looks like you had a wonderful time. Thanks for sharing it with us.

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somnath

Hi Prashant,
It was a nice trip and I really enjoyed this one . Thank you. how was your Holi?

Prashant.M

Down South its always "Holier than thou" . I mean, we don't celebrate Holi here, atleast not in the same scale as in North.

shilpaks

somnath tht sounds like a great trip

somnath

"Down South its always "Holier than thou" . "Ha ha ha….. well said, Prashant.

Shilpa, it was really a great trip.

And now the time for pix:

http://www.ringo.com/explore/tags/tag.html?tag=g6jt2

- Somnath

Helan

What a great write-up Somnath. You certainly had a wonderful time I can't wait to see your pics.

Here is wasn't nearly as hectic as yours, but everyone appeared to have a good time. Water pistols and powder, of course, plus a few hundred people, made it a fun and special evening.

somnath

And Bhang?
Ha ha ha…… Helan, welcome to Indiamike.

Please refer to this link for those pix: http://www.ringo.com/explore/tags/tag.html?tag=g6jt2


- Cheers,
Somnath