In the last post, I had talked extensively of the ritual of Holi in the Peninsular Park. In the same post I had also referred to an incident in which a resident had run away from his place to escape the marauding Holi ki Tolis and returned in the morning to find his place desecrated, almost literally. Well, this post talks about that incident in much more detail and why that is one incident I would never forget in my life!
Now there is this goody 2 shoes guy in the factory where I work. He is extremely decent, quite reserved, seemingly sincere and someone who is yet to be exposed the wicked minds that roam on the face this planet! The OOS-Holi night happened to be a party at one of the resident's place. So, the Holi-Toli's objective was very clear... They had to leave the party just before midnight so that the Holi rampage could be commenced with. Now, Mr. Goody two shoes was seemingly bursting with enthusiasm. He asked everyone in the party as to when the Holi festivities would commence... So you really can't blame anyone for thinking that this fellow was dying to play Holi...
Anyways, the Holi-Toli commenced with the rounds of the park with the specific objective of rendering people who were going to be OOS a wee-bit colourful. Everything seemed to be going according to the plan, when the Holi-Toli encountered a locked door when they reached Mr. goody two shoes' house. Now, obviously, people were surprised, 'coz just minutes ago he'd been asking everyone what time Holi would begin. Since, Mr. Goody-Two Shoes is new to the factory (new being a relative term), people assumed he was being shy and thus, following the prescribed Standard Operrating Procedure, broke into his house via a small window which was covered with a wooden cover. The Holi-Toli was shocked beyond belief to find that Mr. Goody Two Shoes was missing from his place, and thus, once again following the prescribed Standard Operating Procedure, smeared his walls with colour and finding nothing else substantial to wreck, dismantled his bed and moved it outside the house. Some over-enthusiastic members of the Holi-Toli smeared jam on the floor and the walls, and others devoured the fruit juice which Mr. Goody-two shoes had kept in the fridge.
The next morning, When our protagonist returned to his place, he was shocked beyond his wits. In his vew, this was an unacceptable act that deserved, possibly, a police complaint. In this case, he restricted his complaint to his superiors. The Holi-Toli, when they came to know that the poor fellow had felt hurt and pissed at the way things had turned out the night before, in all their goodness, released pamphlets in the park, requesting people to donate money so that Mr. Goody two shoes' place could be set right once again. But, our protagonist did not take kindly to this idea as well. It inflamed his anger and he swore never to set his foot in the park again. (Eventually he did, after much coaxing and cajoling, but that's the boring bit)
The biggest question in this entire episode is who all made up the Holi-Toli... Going by the looks of the Toli members, it seems plausible to state that Ghosts (remember Charles' Dickens' 'A Christmas Carol's' Ghosts of Christmas!) residing in the Park took it on themselves to celebrate Holi in the traditional way and ended up rubbing our protagonist the wrong way!
But abhi kya kar saktein hain? I am sure some of those ghosts would be meaning to say 'Bura naa mano Holi Hai!"
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