Skip to main content

Holi: A festival for men


Since childhood, I loved playing with colours. When I was really tiny, all the cousins used to come over on the eve of Holi and we used to play on the terrace of our house with our little pichkaris and water balloons. When my parents moved to another city, I used to go to my maternal cousin’s house and all the kids of their locality used to play Holi in the playground. It was so much fun running around with those buckets and balloons in our hands.



Then I GREW UP and everything literally changed.

Suddenly I started feeling that this festival only belongs to men as I was feeling really unsafe around them. There were many incidences when I safeguarded myself from getting groped.  Today it has become worst when I cannot even think of stepping outside my house in the morning hours when people become wild while playing Holi.

I do not live in a gated society so whenever I open my window and look towards the main road during the peak hours of Holi I am unable to find a single woman on the streets. It’s all about boys driving their bikes rashly and giving goose bumps to all the passer-by. I wonder where all the women are gone and then I get my answer from within. I close the window glass and come back.



According to me, people have forgotten the essence of playing with colours. Now it is only about getting drunk and having the liberty to misbehave with women because the phrase says it all “Bura Na Maano Holi Hai.” I desperately want to shout in their ears and tell them, No it is not okay to do anything. We will mind and we will dissent. Just type on Google “rape cases on Holi” and you will be stunned to see the results. The first link said, “A 6-year-old girl was raped on Holi and 9 days later Police have only the culprit's name as a clue”. The second said, “80 years old dies after being gang-raped on Holi, 3 held.” Honestly, I could not gather the courage to read the third one.

Forget about rape cases. If only you will type “Holi for women” on Google, it will give you a list of safety tips for women. I mean seriously? Do we now need safety guidelines to be a part of our festivals? I understand and have made peace with the fact that we do live in a patriarchal society but all I want is a safe place to play my childhood’s favourite festival.

Is it actually too much to ask?

Comments

  1. Nishi MamgainApril 3, 2019 at 5:41 PM

    Wow Aanchal!! I never thought about this in this way. You are doing a great work by highlighting the everyday issues that we are facing now. Society needs to rethink and help in making the festival enjoyable for women as well.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Am I the only one who didn’t like Padmaavat?

After a month long controversy, the most hyped movie of 2017 finally released on 25 th Jan 2018. Padmaavat is a typical Sanjay Leela Bhansali venture where you travel to an altogether different world with impeccable cinematography, jaw dropping sets, most beautifully crafted jewelry and costumes. He indeed pays attention to every single detail of his film except for the storyline. I really had high expectations from this movie as everyone around me was going gaga over this film. But to my disappointment, it was nowhere close to my expectations. I don’t understand if it’s because the cuts that were made while censor board certification or the actual story was written in such a manner. Also, one thing that bothered me the most is that Jauhar was an event that happened during that era. There was absolutely no need to glorify it and showcase it with such heavy background score as if it was such a proud moment. If it actually was such a proud practice then it would have not been ...
5 comments
Read more

Atishi Marlena; We Didn’t Deserve You

I am neither from the Anti Modi squad nor among the Bhakts. I respect Mr Modi for all the good work that he has done but curse him for everything that he said but didn’t do. There is a very famous term in Eastern UP called “Bhaukal” which is used for people like Modi who talk a lot but do a little. Anyways, I am happy that he got elected once again as our Prime Minister and really hope that this time he actually takes all his countrymen together without creating any further prejudice. Now that the dust of this election has settled, when I look back at all the events, one thing that actually broke my heart was the defeat of Atishi Marlena. Her defeat shows that people of our country still do not go through the profile of their respective MPs and happily vote for vague statements. Let’s just get a glimpse of who Atishi Marlena actually is? Atishi did her schooling from Springdales School, New Delhi and graduated in History from St. Stephens College, New Delhi. She got the C...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Red Garden of Bangalore

If you have a keen interest in the history of Bangalore then you must be aware of the importance Lalbagh holds for this city. But because of being a Delhite, I was completely unaware of the beauty of this place. When I went to Bangalore for the first time, I just thought of exploring the city on my own. I quickly googled it and found Lalbagh at the first place. Next thing I did was to take an auto-rickshaw from the brigade road which costed me around Rs 80. My auto-rickshaw dropped me at the main gate of Lalbagh. Lalbagh actually has four gates Eastern, Western, Northern and Southern that leads to different sections of the city. There was no ticket charged as they have a specific timing (6 am - 9 am and 5:30 pm to 7 pm) during which they do not charge a single penny from the visitor, else the ticket cost was Rs 20 and the garden is kept open for all the visitors from 6 am to 7 pm. The moment I entered, I was mesmerized by the beauty of this garden. It is a 240 acre huge garde...
2 comments
Read more