HOLI

I decided to spend Hindu festival Holi in the Holiest of places: Varanasi. This is where people come to end the cycle of reincarnation, and bodies are continuously being burned on its ghats after being soaked in the Ganges River. Its a pretty solemn, horrible, fascinating sight to see these bodies burning after a procession leads them down to the river, where they are blessed by holy men.

About Holi though... it's the festival of colours, basically resulting in a massive paint war. Little kids fill up baloons with dye and wait on their terrases, reading to hurl them down at anyone walking down Varanasi's narrow streets. Others will just jump at you with dry dye and smear you with it, so that everyone is an incredible blend of these very vibrant purples pinks, yellows... Most people will stop you in the street to give you a hug and wish you a Happy Holi, and families visit each other with gifts and greetings.

It has its weird side too. There's a lot of drinking involved, from very early on in the morning, and most guys are also consuming bhang (cannabis). It's a strictly male affair, with only a few foreign female tourists risking to step out. The guys can get quite agressive (even I got felt up a few times). By the ghats, a huge sound system pumps out some bhangra or other new pop music with big beats, as everyone (again, only dudes) raves on. It really felt like Holi was the day when everyone let loose their tension and frustration (a lot of it sexual) and many of these guys were doing very homoerotic dance moves, some with their pants off!The main street of Varanasi was nuts, like a war zone. All shops and businesse closed and nobody there but drunk lairy guys hurling paint running after and jumping on anyone who passed by, grabbing and tearing their clothes. It really felt like being in a zombie movie where the only people who survived were these weird colourful men. Others zoomed by on their motobrikes, faces painted gold or silver, wasted and singing songs or yelling "Happy Holiii", shooting paint at anyone from their water guns.

Walking back after we thought all the fun was over, I got 'attacked' by a group of guys who tore of my shirt and were pouring paint all over me. All in good fun, until they grabbed my trousers! I realized they were'nt going to stop so went a bit mental and pushed them off but they still managed to rip my underwear off! Crazy day... We ended it by taking a customary dip in the (gross) Ganga, where most of the paint comes off and the river runs red and purple. Pictures coming soon!

Soundtrack to my trip at the moment: The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Take it from the Man