The alarm went off at exactly 7:30, just like everyday. But it was a Saturday and there was no office today. Akhil slapped his heavy fist on the snooze button of his Chinese alarm clock he had bought from the dollar store last week. Damned alarm.
Ten minutes later he woke up with a start. “Oh crap!” Today was Holi.
Akhil felt a pang in his stomach. He was going to miss home today more than ever. His first holi in a new town with hardly any Indian friends around. Nobody to smudge with color, no kids running around throwing water balloons at random people, no celebration of any sort for him. And then it occurred to him that holi in India would already be over – it was early evening there at this time. He smiled at the irony of that realization, but that sinking feeling came creeping back a second later.
He called up home and talked to everybody in the family. They were all there – his parents, uncles, aunts, all the kids. The only one missing was him.
At least he could call them up, if not be with them. Some consolation.
This lasted 30 minutes. It was now 9am and the day had just about begun for him. He had moved to New York last month after finishing grad school in Atlanta, and didn’t really have any friends he could visit or invite over.
“Let’s make some kheer to celebrate” he thought. He was a good cook, and the last time he made kheer was on India’s Independence Day when he had made a potful and taken to his office. Everybody had liked the rice pudding, as they called it.
An hour later the kheer was ready, but Akhil was even more stressed out. All this kheer on a festival and nobody to share it with. The loneliness was killing him.
Even Shakira didn’t help, and Shakira always worked for him.
Last year holi was so much better. He had a big bunch of Indian friends back in grad school and they had so much fun at the Indian Association sponsored celebrations. But now he was in a different corner of the country. Things were a little different this year around.
He called up his dearest buddy Rajiv, who had just about woken up. He was in a different time zone, but in the same situation as Akhil. They talked for a long time, discussing their lives and the multitude of options they had for spending their time. Rajiv had a suggestion – “maybe they do some celebration at the local temple?”
A quick Google search revealed that a temple a short drive from home indeed had some sort of holi celebration in the morning. It was almost noon now, but if he rushed he might make it.
Filed under: India, Stories , Holi, Indian Festivals, Life in America, Stories
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