Your attitude is like a box of crayons that color your world. Constantly color your picture gray, and your picture will always be bleak. Try adding some bright colors to the picture by including humor, and your picture begins to lighten up –  By Allen Klein

I believe my life is a canvas and I am its painter. I find this related to every aspect of my life. Perhaps my most favourite hindu festival in the world is Holi. I am here to talk about my childhood and Holi from my growing days. I would discuss in detail about the Holi recipes of Bihar. This happens to be the place where I grew up. I have experienced it raw and in its purest form (just ignore my idiosyncrasies).Before I talk about the Holi recipes I would like to write about my memories of Holi.

On the arrival of Holi I am suddenly an ugly duckling for my family. My father,mother and sister have an aversion to this festival especially the aspect of playing of colours. I can’t blame them and always forgave them for their ignorance. I was an abandoned child only for that day. Pushed out of the house in haste to avoid any onlookers. Blimey 🙂

Holi for the children starts a month ahead. Where we start collecting branches,leaves and anything combustible for the preparation of the Kamudu pyre. I am guilty of collecting tyres and even sneaking wood out of the neighbour’s garden. It was a competition where we competed with children of the neighbouring colonies. The higher the pyre, the better. There were detailed meetings and tasks distributed. We kept afternoon guards to prevent our pyre wood from being stolen. We sent spies to check the height of their pyre. All in the name of fun. It became extremely difficult for the parents to control our enthusiasm.

A week before, the throwing of water balloons was a regular ritual. This has become unacceptable in the recent times. Back then we had the liberty of our friends house where aunty would actually keep the back door open. So we could have visits to the tap and fill our balloons and buckets. I cannot forget aunty’s generousity. (Sandhya & Seema)

The evening before holi everyone in the colony would come out in the ground (at the back of their house). Where the Pyre stands in the middle of the ground away from all houses. Some eminent elder would light the pyre. And the eyes of all the children would lit up with cheer. We would dance around the fire just like a bonfire dance. While the elders performed their rituals of offering coconuts,cow-dung cakes and puffed rice to the fire. Mythologically, it was the end of Holika in fire and emergence of Bhakta Prahalad unscathed from fire. It signifies the destruction of evil and thus the triumph of good. It marks the arrival of spring in the Indian sub-continent.

The night is extremely difficult for the children because they are ebbing to just step out and start playing Holi. To contain such effervescence is a great difficulty for parents.I was one such kid.

The next day morning I would be the first to rise. Quickly ascend the metal grill and look into the ground to see any signs of children playing Holi. My mother would pull me down and smear oil on my hair and skin to prevent it from getting stained. Then there would be that much awaited knock. ‘Oh god my friends have come’. I would be literally pushed out of the backdoor. My own house would become an impenetrable fort. But my expression is ‘who cares’….Bleh

Once out we were a bunch of hooligans.I was a complete tomboy. There is a ritual to play holi with the ash of the Holika called as ‘Kachchi Holi‘. How gross it may seem but I throughly enjoyed that too. We smeared each other with Gulal as an ice breaker. The intensity of the play grew with each hour into the day. Then came the water colours which were filled in the water pistons or Pichkari. They were targeted at each other and literally drenched everyone with colours. The naughty ones would dump colours on the hair and the back. Sometimes we even filled buckets of water and emptied them on each other. We would laugh at each others faces. How red or green we looked. Water and colours are the two integral ingredients of Holi.

Then came our seniors who has surpassed the age of playing with simple colours. They brought in some silver and golden varnish. The little ones ran frantically to save themselves from these paints. I on the other hand was a complete nuisance and throughly enjoyed the painted faces. I would occasionally request them for a little paint and scare my friends away. We by now I am very sure you are opinionated about my mischief quotient. Well to confess I throughly enjoyed that period. I know that time will never come back. Urban world has no place for children who play in playgrounds. The world today where drinking water is scarce. Modernisation has left very little time for tradition and carefree childhood. I doubt my cherub will ever see that Holi of Bihar which I enjoyed every bit as a child.

Everybody was forgiven on this day of Holi. The boisterousness was at its peak but it was all in the name of fun.Fortunately I have always experienced the good of every festival and fervour. By late afternoon I returned like an escaped convict tainted with sins of colours. My mother heaves a sigh of disbelief as she looks at me. Grabs my arm and takes me straight to the backyard and then starts the painstaking process of removing the colours stains from your body,hair and god knows where……She kept cursing the wishful colours which refused to come out no matter how much she tried. Approximately after three complete bath rituals I look a little more human a little more sane. Grin!!

Well did you think Holi is over.Its only about colours? Nopety, Nopety,Nope….its also about the food and blessings. My mother used to pray to Lord Krishna. In the evening we used to put a pinch of colour on our elders feet and seek their blessings. In Bihar Holi is celebrated with great passion.It is customary to call kith and kin to their homes for an evening feast. On that particular day I had invites from approximately five families. There is still a little smear of dry colours in the evening hence by default my family stayed at home to stay secure. So, I was the beast who moved rampantly from one home to the home scavenging their Holi spread. (Sony)

There are various recipes from Bihar which are made especially on the day of Holi and served to family and friends. To name a few delicacies like Stuffed green peas pastry (Muter kachori), Raw Jackfruit Curry (Kathal ki Sabzi), Gujjiya (sweet), Fried Banana Sweet Fritters (Malpua), Lentil dumplings in yoghurt (Dahi Vada) and Gulab Jamum (sweet).

Today England saw its first Spring sun rays. Over the last few days it had been depressingly cold. When I saw the sun I rushed to the occasion by cooking this Holi Spread for my family. And I wanted to capture the true spirit of Holi through my photography. There are colours for the various shades of life, flowers to signify the onset of spring, there are sun rays to signify the warmth of relationships and finally the presence of family which makes every festival and every moment worthwhile.

To all my readers, this year has been phenomenal so far in terms of work. I wish you a very Happy Holi from HeuristicKitchens. In a world which seemed to be marred by a negative balance I am happy to add a pinch of colour with the positivity of my blog posts. I have been consistent in my journey and wish to do the same in the future. In return I derive all the energy to surge into my life which is filled with all the colours of the spectrum.

This is a recipe free post and I just wanted to share my anecdotes.But please follow the link to the individual recipes of Holi from Bihar.

Holi Recipes of Bihar

Raw Jackfruit Curry

Dahi Vada

Malpua