Holi hai!

Holi began with a rather lazy start of a day with breakfast in bed, mildly irritated by the loud music blaring off speakers in the neighbourhood, as I surfed the internet in bed. Yes, I have lights on Saturday and Sunday for a few hours. Thank you NEA!

Post lunch, Dhungel phoned to say that he was on his way to pick me up to “do something this Holi with the home boys”. Repulsed at the idea of having to duck my way onto the pickup point with rooftops festering with kids and exuberant adults, who’d be more than happy to tip a bucket of fetid water over or hurl plastic bag projectiles at passersby, I left the sanctity of my bed. 🙁

Equipped with my camera bag, and managing to escape any misgivings except for one incident when one lousy stream of  water missed me by inches possibly strewn off a pichkari, or peed upon by a kid, I ducked safely into the car and we went on forward to pick up Thule and Mona.

Perhaps, Holi this year was less popular as the roads were empty save a few rowdy bikers who zoomed by blaring their horns incessantly. Gaushala Chowk, Lain Chour, Lazimpat, Tripureswor, Thapathali, Jawalakhel and most traffic junctures festooned with ambushes set up by the Traffic police. Perhaps, to deter rowdy bikers and or possibly make money at it, as the bikers would be less likely to carry their bill books on them.

Our first destination – a quaint little restaurant atop a building opposite the Japanese embassy closed on our arrival citing holi. The second and third options too were closed. So we helped ourselves to some beer at Raju dai’s pasal. A very welcoming Raju dai was kind enough to provide us shelter under his awning as we helped ourselves to beer and chips. Lale and Abhit too arrived as if on cue as Dhungel queried Raju dai about Lale’s whereabouts. A group of four grew to a group of six. With our options limited to a few expensive restaurants in Jhamel, we were contemplating if the need to move to a restaurant was moot, as we were comfortably settled doing exactly that – sipping chilled beer in pleasant conversation.

What happened next was a rude awakening for our mildly tipsy selves. We’d failed to notice that Raju dai’s pasal was adjacent to the road, a not very busy one at that. Abhit recalls, a gentleman in khadi kurta escorted by his driver got off a Prado and came our way. A mantri (minister) wants to buy a pack of cigarettes was an off-handed comment received.

Upon arrival, he queried, “Yesari, baatoma beer khana milcha?” Unsure about the answer to that I answered back with a question, “Mildaina ra?”

That may have been a wrong thing to say as an immediate tirade in harsh Nepali language followed as this person threatened us to put us all in jail. Our confused selves were accosted and ordered to leave. Even Raju dai was threatened. I was still uncertain if drinking beer in public on a public holiday was an infraction. We were minding our business helping ourselves to a soft drink creating no nuisance at all, supporting the local economy while at it. 🙂

We weren’t intoxicated or belligerent. A mild warning to not consume beer in public would have been fair warning and would have sufficed.

“Gharma gayera kha, restaurant ma basera kha,” were the words he used as he ordered us into the cars. We followed up on his second prescription and found ourselves at dhokaima cafe where we helped ourselves to more beer, scrumptious cheese cake and momos.

A holi well spent, except for that minor incident which served as rude awakening that beer consumption in public is a misdemeanour in Kathmandu as well. I also did take time to capture a few moments on camera.  Capturing our belligerent khadi kurta on camera would have been fun, but it was a risk that I was very unwilling to take!