Hari Krishna!

My friends and I went to the Festival of Colors this weekend and came out looking like abstract modern art.

See.

We ran around like crazy people throwing handfuls of yellow, pink and orange chalk dust. It was quite an escapade. Not only did I make friends with a burly security guard (he "purified" my friend with a leaf blower before she entered the Hari Krishna temple to use the bathroom) but I've been sneezing purple for the last two days. 

I've only gone once before this year,

  

but that first time was a bit embarrassing...

Two years ago I went to the same festival with my friend, Aric. It was pretty much the same experience--masses of chanting people, clouds of purplish dust, a few llamas. Once we had our fill we headed back down the road to our car. Thousands of people come to the festival every year so we had to park a good mile and a half away. As we were walking along the side of the road we caught up to some other festival revelers. 

"Hari Krishna!" they shouted, waving their arms above their heads.

Aric and I smiled. "Hari Krishna," we shouted back.

Every two minutes we ran into more and more dust covered people, and every two minutes we shouted and waved our arms to "Hari Krishna! Hari Krishna!"

After about 15 minutes I turned to Aric. 

"I think I might accidentally shout "Merry Christmas" one of these times." I said.

He rubbed at some blue dust in his ear. "Yeah, I'm definitely feeling pretty festive right now."

I smiled and waved at some honking cars that passed by us. There were dozens of people on the road. Everyone was laughing and yelling and running. I couldn't help but absorb the energy.

"I love this!" I said. "A little bit of chalk makes everyone so friendly!"

Aric threw his arms over his head. "Hari Krishna!" he screamed.

I laughed and cupped my hands around my mouth. "Hari Krishna!"

Soon the crowd around us took up the shout. We high-fived random strangers, danced to a teenager's car radio, patted each other on the back. We were absolutely surrounded by merriment. The excitement escalated so far that I finally threw my arms in the air and shouted at the top of my lungs.

"I LOVE COLORED PEOPLE!"

The crowd went silent.    

I let my arms fall back to my side and suddenly noticed dozens of disapproving looks. It took a few moments before I finally realized what I'd said.

That's when my face became not only orange and yellow, but bright, bright red.

I took a couple steps closer to Aric.

"Run," I whispered.

He laughed the whole way. 

  

I made sure to keep my mouth shut this year.