'Holi is a celebration of life's absurdities'

KATHMANDU, March 27: Much of the Kathmandu Valley, like many other cities and towns in the country´s hilly region, wore a deserted look Tuesday. Very few vehicles plied the streets. Very few people stepped out of the confines of their compounds.



But the mood of the people, unlike on other occasions when the valley wears a deserted look, was jolly. After all, it was Holi, the festival of colors. [break]



Holi was observed across the country, except the Tarai belt, with joy. People painted each other´s faces with colors and splashed their friends with colored water using water guns. In several places of the Valley, Holi was celebrated organizing grand musical concerts. On Wednesday, people in the Tarai will celebrate Holi.



"Holi is the celebration of absurdities of our life," says noted culture expert Satya Mohan Joshi. "Life is not just about logic and sense. We sometimes do things that have no sense at all. During Holi festival we try to celebrate these very aspects of our life - nonsense and absurdities. At times, celebration of nonsense gives joy that sense and logic can not."



Joshi, one of the very few people who have witnessed the evolution of Holi celebration in the valley, says, "Holi is our own version of April Fools´ Day." In every culture, people are restricted by moral rules and they tend to find one way or the other to celebrate pranks, hoaxes or lies. "People in the western part of the world celebrate April Fools´ Day and we celebrate Holi," opines Joshi.



Joshi narrates a story of how Rana Prime Minister Juddha Shamsher once scared people gathered in his courtyard to celebrate Holi festival by unleashing a domesticated leopard out of a sack. "As in April Fools´ Day, pranks are taken lightly on Holi festival," he says.



Prof Dr Prem Khatri, former head of Central Department of Culture at Tribhuvan University (TU), shares Joshi´s view on Holi. "Holi festival has always been promoted by the state itself in Nepal," says Khatri. "This is why this festival has penetrated into common people´s psyche so deeply that it is still widely celebrated."



In Khatri´s view, celebration of Holi is celebrating the onset of spring season as well. "People want to be happy and always seek different means of joy," says he.



"Welcoming spring season with various colors is a perfect way of finding joy in our otherwise monotonous life."

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