HOLI MEMORY- A TALE FROM CHILDHOOD
( Above picture is of Flower Fields,San Diego, clicked when we visited it in 2018) Reminiscences of Holi: I had been planning to write about my Holi experiences since long but kept putting it off. This time I made up my mind to write about it. It was the late fifties when I was in my middle school. Place : Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh We were residing in a Railway colony which was a small world in itself. Our activities for the HOLI used to start with organising for Holika Dahan ( Holika, the sister of the demon king Hiranyakashipu , was killed in the fire) . There was an open place in our colony earmarked for it. A couple of days before Poornima ( Day of Holika Dahan), a Pooja was conducted at the site and initial collection of fuel ( Wood, cow dung cakes and other combustible materials) were collected and placed there. Then the task of gathering more fuel was taken over by the Bachcha Party (we) under the guidance of a few elders. We used to go house to house requesting for dona