Holi After a Fashion

As I've stated, one of my big chores this year is to get caught up on the travel part of my travel blog.  And, yes, I know I say that year after year, but this time I'm sincere (and I know I also say that year after year).  Sometimes when I'm cleaning up my computer or the gallery on my phone, I'll just be stunned how many hundred blog posts are waiting to be written.  It's a daunting task, but, as the old saying goes, if all else fails move a pawn, so I'll just get started. 

When I'm asked my favorite overseas locations I inevitably say that it's a tie between Jordan and India.  That's an odd answer because both of them are criminally under-represented on this blog.  There's all sorts of reasons that my explain that anomaly, but maybe the most accurate is that they are both alive in my heart all the time.  Sometimes you capture images and memories of places that you assume you'll never go back to, whereas there are other places where it is inconceivable that you won't return, and which are so present in your day to day life, that you get lazy in regards to capturing them.  Or maybe, perversely, you don't actually want to share them with anyone else. Or I'll just be on my own overpowering sloth and incompetence.

On our trip to India last year it managed to fall during the festival of Holi (and more on that later).  The students, of course, desperately wanted to into the great mosh pit of Holi madness, but Inder and Rohit, I suspect wisely, kept them at a distance.  Rohit did, magically, manage to get some dye for the students to spread around, which they did over lunch as we prepared to head into the sacred caves at Ellora.

The students, much to their chagrin, were forced to watch much of Holi through the bus windows as we sped towards Ellora.  Part of it was a tight schedule, and part of it was, as I said above, for safety reasons.  Seeing everyone, doused in color, passing by made the students more than a bit crazy to join them.

It is truly a crime that Cyndi and I are not returning to India next March.  She's abandoning me to lead her own trip to the Galapagos with Kathy Seiler, which is a worthy, although hardly equal, trade off.  I'm not certain who is taking her place.  Steve is a natural choice, but he has family obligations that week.  I'm thinking of some kind of competition for the Junior Faculty. Hmmmm.

Hattie and Caroleanne certainly enjoyed their little corner of Holi.

In the end, apparently the main attraction of Holi for the students was painting their beloved and beleaguered Professor.  Taylor Post is certainly enjoying herself (it was her second overseas trip with me, having gone on the first Jordan trip, so I'm sure she owed me revenge for something).

I know I've posted this picture before, but I love it so I'm using it again.  In the midst of the Holi chaos, the esteemed Inder Singh sat happily eating his soup, oblivious of the distractions. He and I are already planning next year's return trip.