Jaipur - part VIII - Holi celebrations

So we got a taste of Holi at the Elephant Festival, and we could certainly see signs of it everywhere in Jaipur. One thing we noticed were these sheaves of grass on the street corners and at the intersections. Later on, we saw the bonfires and figured it out. Apparently there is a certain time that the fires should be lit - we missed that (other than the fire at the Festival) and just saw the remains. I bet it looks cool when fires are burning high all over the city.

We also saw people (women mostly) with these giant piles of stuff to sell. I THINK it is manure, maybe to burn, but it is in these spiral rings. It must be on a rope or something. (Poop on a rope, isn't that a Father's Day gift??!) We aren't sure, but it was certainly readily available.
The next thing we noticed all over was the Holi colours. Holi IS the Festival of Colour, and it is to celebrate the triumph of good over bad and to usher in the spring. The colours we refer to is the powder that they throw on each other. People everywhere have it to sell by weight - I think we paid 15 rupees per 100g. Sam wanted some to take home but we nearly weren't allowed back into the hotel with it! We had to swear we were taking it home and would NOT throw it inside!
I loved to see the bright piles everywhere. Most of the time the colours were pretty standard but sometimes someone would have a variation. I think it is possible to get organic or plant based colours but I am sure most now are synthetic colours.

We decided to take a rickshaw ride around an found a driver that said he would hit the major sites. We tired to get him to follow the meter (which is the law) but he claimed it didn't apply on a holiday. I think that is a load of crap, but it was still pretty cheap, so what the heck. We all piled in to an auto rickshaw (first time for everybody but me) and drove around. The streets were just FILLED with people, more than normal, and all of them not their original colour! We were told that on Holi, everybody is fair game - if you are outside, prepare to get colour - you can't opt out. We saw lots of crazy sights and made a loop thru the main part of town and were coming back to the hotel, when... splat! Randy and Miranda, who were riding in the back, facing back, receieved a direct hit from some guys on a motorcycle.

This first viedeo is out the window of our hotel. Apparently there is some dancing involved in Holi too, but you may have to be drunk for that.
Holi seems to me to be mostly a young man's holiday - a chance for them to let loose and forget the rules. You will see what I mean when you keep reading the next blog entries. What we saw that day seemed like harmless (maybe even pointless!) fun.
Most of these videos I took from the rickshaw, and I was just trying to show what the streets really looked like, and sounded like. Of course, it never really does it justice.