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The festival of colors has just gone by. The moment you step onto a street, there is perennial fear that a sudden splash of color might come your way, a bucket of water emptied over your head, to make matters worse- there is a high chance of a water filled balloon being hurled at you, with the sole intent of causing pain and discomfort. It’s not weird for strangers to forcefully grab your cheeks, smear you with holi colors, with utter disregard for any personal boundaries. Your protests are only met with resounding cries of “Bura Na Maano, Holi hai” (Don’t take offence, its holi!).
As an atheist, I care little about the context of holi, the myth and religiosity behind it. For all I know, like most cultural practices, it is believed to have casteist roots, making it inherently oppressive. In its current form, to me the practice is very similar to Dusshera, where we need an external ‘evil’ to blame whether its Ravan or Holika, we need violence to justify the greatness of ‘good’, while being completely ignorant of the vices within, not allowing for dialogue but violence to perpetuate in every way of life.
But let’s keep my personal beliefs aside. For all the intellectualism as some might accuse me off, I have grown up enjoying the festivities of it. The pakodas, the gujias , the thandais, the fun times with friends and family , the dance and music- all of it. As the fans of the movie Inside Out would know this is important to keep the ‘joy’ in our heads up and moving. The festival does mark a beginning of spring, and start of the harvest season – so the rationalist in me has a reason to celebrate ! But it’s not just that what happens on holi or does it?
The ‘H’ in Holi today stands for hate and harassment, with the state emerging as a primary enabler. We have a situation where a DSP in Uttar Pradesh issues a clarion call to Muslims to stay indoors, on the pretext that “Holi comes once a year, whereas the Jumma comes 52 times” and instead of condemning, the chief minister defends him, calls him a ‘pehelwan’ – a befitting symbol of the violence this intends to instigate. To make matters worse, a cabinet ranked minister of his government dares to say – “if they have issue with colors, they shouldn’t just stay indoors, but rather leave the country”. It’s not a festival anymore, but a weapon in the hands of extremists to spread communal hate, and if this continues, we are not far away from the day where its red of the blood that marks the color of Holi.
Add a dash of misogyny and sexism to this communal hate, and you have your perfect Holi mix. Its no secret that sexual violence against women spikes during Holi. According to a research article published in 2024 Bihar alone saw a staggering 140% increase in violence against women during Holi, with sexual violence rising by 160% and assault by 170% and not to forget the asterisk- these are just reported incidents. Women being groped, being molested and everyone just being made uncomfortable with consent thrown out of the window has become a common feature of Holi celebrations. Not to forget the not-so-subtle sexism peddled by Bollywood dance parties– “Masti main jo chahe, ho jaye, hone do” (Whatever happens in fun, let it happen- Jai Jai Shiv Shankar), “Report likha do thane main, ham bhardenge jurmana, ang se ang lagana” (File an FIR, I’ll pay the fine- let’s embrace- – Ang se ang lagana) , “Tujh pe tiki hai meri naughty nazaria” (My naughty gaze is fixed on you – Badri ki Dulhania) are just few of many examples that come to mind, where harassment, is peddled as a legitimate form of romantic pursuit – All in the name of “ Bura na maano Holi Hain!”
It is convenient and easy to ignore all this at the expense of fun the festival brings. But, as the phone buzzes with Holi greetings, we are constantly reminded the value of forgiveness, the value of forgetting our conflicts and starting anew. It’s symbolic of how people want to disengage rather than have uncomfortable but necessary conversations. Well, I would like to take an exception to that, to not just forget and forgive, but rather engage in dialogue and debate without being vitriolic, but with conviction. Not just ignore, forget, and move on, but I’d rather take offense to issues that matter – where communal hate is justified in the name of festival and where consent is violated and misogyny glorified. For me it’s Bura Maano- Kyonki Holi hai ! (Take offense, because its holi!)
These pieces are being published as they have been received – they have not been edited/fact-checked by ThePrint.