You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
Hey…
I hope all of you are doing well…!
I’d like to start this by wishing all of you a very happy holi…!
A festival of gulal(powdered color) and water is upon us which can hit you in the form of shower, a stream or even wrapped tightly in a balloon…!
Also, a tradition of burning a mound of wood neatly wrapped in dupatta(a traditional scarf like cloth women wear here in India…);
Also around it is placed dried cow dung cakes which on asking around I came to know is to cancel any bad omen on kids of the house…! (I was told this by a few people including older women who continued this tradition up until this point of time…)
They also burn in it a stem of plant which also has some buds let me look for their picture…
The stem that is burned in it is either a stem or two from castor plant or it’s a stem of silk cotton plant…!
Which were being sold for 50 maybe 60 bucks a pair I think…;
It’s kept in the family almirah which usually holds the money in the Indian household for some time and during holika it’s taken out and burned to bring auspiciousness…
(I don’t know how I forgot to take the picture of it🥲)
The wood used to make the support structure is any old wood available at home as you can see in the image a wooden palate is broken and placed along it…!
At night or later in the evening this mound is burned and the cycle of the season is counted;
Oncoming of spring and ending of winter and triumph of victory over evils in this nature that surround us…!
Coming back to the prompt
Opening sentence of my autobiography
First of all an autobiography would be a great thing that I would take upon myself;
But only after I would have done something worth writing in it;
These days all of it is struggles and maybe in old age I will write something like a biography that revolves around my life…!
It would go something like this—
“He came up with so much stuff from within these four walls that it’s astounding;
You can imagine someone feel trapped within these walls,
But for waakiye,(my real name) it was the only thing that they could ask for;
Some solace and these four walls in which they found the world that this world enjoys…!”
A little warning to all those who are celebrating Holi…!
Apart from the risks that are associated like losing your balance if a water filled balloon is aimed at you or a squirt of gulal mixed water goes into your eyes;
It’s better not to travel today and if you absolutely have to;
Be on the constant lookout on the rooftops as children will do this to you..!
And they’ll say the same old thing—
“Bura naa mano holi hai…”
Translations
“Don’t take it in the bad way, it’s the festival of Holi…”
Many men will be on the streets ready to grope women, in the veil of this festival…!
And,
In a figure of warning, please don’t step out of the house as it can lead to a traumatic experience and kill the festive spirit altogether…!
You can spend it with family and friends within closed doors…!
Let me be very clear,
This is not something I can force on you;
But,
I can tell you to be a little more careful about it…!
Also,
When you’re on crossroads or a four way you will see some things in the middle of the street like a lock or powder sprayed or a Diya right in the middle of the four way…!
It’s better to avoid it as it is done to transfer some bad omens from the person who did it or the person who crosses it…!
It might feel like it’s far fetched but that’s what we were told and have followed to avoid crossroads…!
And,
At last,
Don’t
And I mean—
Don’t eat anything that any person gives you along the way, if you’re travelling somewhere today…!
Cheers 🥂
Love Waakiye 🤍
Waakiye 