#BuraNaManoHoliHai

At a point of time when humans started settling with the advent of farming, society started taking a form to replace the previous groups and troops of hunters and gathers. As Society matured being more articulate and civilized, various ethnicities from different parts of world emerged as the identity of population of those territories. This ‘sense of belonging’ to a certain fraternity paved way for some customs, traditions and cultures that proved instrumental in the evolved form of society at large.

Although ‘Group Cohesiveness’ has always remained the backbone of cultural celebration, the fundamental elements that provided the occasion for festivals in early period could be largely traced to change in seasons – to bid farewell to an ending season and welcoming the new season at their cusp. India, owing to its geographical location, environmental conditions and culture, enjoys maximum (6) seasons and therefore has maximum number of festivals in a year. India’s cultural, communal, geographical and historical diversity adds to the total and India takes the cake as the most celebrated nation of the planet when it comes to festivals – another reason to feel proud as an Indian!

However, it has become imperative to understand the spirit of the festivals and the intent of our forefathers who initiated them with a common purpose – Cohesiveness with a heightened sense of belonging, teamwork, interpersonal and group-level interaction. No doubt Festivals are meant to be celebrated and Festival without Celebration would be like School without Education, just another ritual! But at the same time, with evolution of millions of years and the condition of the only liveable planet known to Humans for which only Humans are to be blamed, we should look at it in a different context and more consciousness. And when I say ‘we’, I mean Homo sapiens, without any classification of even color of skin - let alone caste, creed, cult, region or religion.

Today is Holi and I am sure every Indian on the planet is enthused with the thought of playing Holi and is already imagining the rainbow of colors he or she would look from head to toe tomorrow. I not only understand but even reciprocate the fervor of the festival and would surely love to soak myself in all available colors; I would make sure that I do not use any Chemical Colors that can harm any being or the environment and secondly, would use minimum, if not ZERO, water for the celebration. Why I insist on not wasting the water is because I don’t think that Cape Town is far away and I am not at all concerned with water crisis happening on the farthest point from where I live. I cannot say that because we all humans are connected in more than one way, we are children of Mother Earth. Watch the video and try to empathize with the situation. Don’t say that you are not bothered, because if we say that now nobody will come to our rescue if we, god forbid, find ourselves in such a situation.

If you think that is quite a heavy stuff for such a festival of light mood, another interesting and little naughty tradition of this festival is saying whatever comes to your mind for anybody without hurting the sentiments as it will be accompanied by a modest request, 'Bura Na Mano Holi Hai' - Don't mind, its on the occasion of Holi I am saying this without any ill-intent!

In the digital era where it is taken as unsophisticated, impolite and uncivilized to physically meet a person, let alone touching and hugging unless you are a foreign diplomat, I thought it would be interesting to imagine how some happening entities would think about their situation and Tweet it with a Hashtag – a mandatory thing one should do to prove its existence [in fact, both AADHAR and Certificate of life for pensioners would be replaced by a person’s Tweets as proof of his/her survival, it seems] – this is how it would look, I guess!

By the way, do I need to add a disclaimer here that this is absolute fictional work of creative imagination and any relation with anybody living or dead is a pure coincidence? (A little Pun intended!) So here we go with #BuraNaManoHoliHai –

#SwacchaBharat – @rallyforrivers, @CBIINdia, I am not sure about my banks but Indian Banks are being cleaned for sure! – Maa Ganga.

#IndianMedia – @Sridevi, Thank you Sri Devi ji! – Your highly obliged fan! – Nirav Now NRI.

#IndiaPolitics - @PrashantKishor, Send me your proposal with estimate - RaGa.

#CBIINdia @NiMo, Hi Bro, come back soon man, feeling little lonely ‘in’ here – Karti Chidambaram.

#IndianMedia – @NiMo, @Sridevi, We regret our profession and trivial contribution vis-à-vis yours! – Yash Pal [Renowned Indian Scientist] and T.S.R. Subramanian [Former Cabinet Secretary].

#IndiaPolitics - @KamalHassan, क्या 'आप'भी राजनिती बदलने आये है जी? एक बात पहेलेसे समझ लीजिये, किसीपेभी 'विश्वास' मत करिये गा ! - आम आदमी.

#ManKiBaat - @PM_MODI, Sir, when would you do OUR Man ki baat, let alone our Kam ki baat? – Indian Farmer.

#Interview - @SharadPawar, काका मला वाचवा – AP [or RT?] @PMO, Can we have the script? - Republic [of India?]

#IndiaPolitics - @NitishKumar - हम पहलेसेही जानते थे इ ससुरा मांजी हमराही मौंटन म्यान है गुड्बघ! - लालू.

#Cryptocurrency - @BitCoin, I understand you are the new kid on the block, but can you be minted? - New 10 Rupee Coin.

#CSRIndia - @Corporate, If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts! - MCA.

#ToI @RKLaxman, You muted me for years and made me an innocent bystander witnessing everything helplessly, now when they are taking me for a ride, where are you and what would you do? - Common Man.

And yes, please feel free to add your imaginations in the comments if you are also inspired by reading these 'intimate secrets', nothing here would be charged nor trolled (who said 'not even read or noticed?'), I believe! After all it’s Holi, Don’t mind Bro, you know!

May the Wise Colors of Rainbow Peacefully Glitter Your Life!

Way to go...