Holi at Ratnakara

Jaya, Sulochana, Dr Vishwanath, Balakishan, Pradeep, Srikanth, Ramesh, Ashok
Foreground: Sadhana and Gautham

Ratnakara's vast open space and the pond in the garden meant a large number of people could gather and have fun. My parents were gregarious people and Holi began to be celebrated in a big way since it was a festival loved by everyone in the family. In fact, we used to play Holi in our old ancestral house in Brahmanwadi also. 

My parents' friends and colleagues, my uncles' friends, our own large family...we all gathered to play. Once the excitement began, whoever entered the gate was chased, picked up and dunked in the pond! I remember Seenu uncle once walked in through the gate, and when he realised he would be lifted and taken to the pond, he ran, escaped the crowd and jumped into the pond, to a huge uproar! We children stayed in the pond for a while enjoying the coolness, a comforting relief from the just-starting summer heat.      

Left to right (foreground): Dr Vishwanath, Prabhakar (Electricity), ?
Some who are in the back row: Prashanth, Ashok, Vidya, Kishan, Ramesh (can't identify three people) 

Mohan mama started joining us on Holi, and he became the heart and soul of the festival. We felt the excitement begin when he arrived in Warangal. He loved playing Holi and he was clearly the leader of our gang. Sadly, I did not find any photos of him during Holi.  

After playing at home, as though the people who gathered in our house were not sufficient, we went in a group to our neighbours' homes, shouting for them to come out to smear colour on them. In the lane next to our house was the Advocate Natraj Sharma. Their family did not like to play Holi and they invariably shut their doors and stayed indoors. Sharma uncle had three daughters and he was careful not to let them mingle with this unruly crowd. We went nevertheless, Mohan mama declaring, "If the Mountain won’t go to Mohammed, then Mohammed must come to the Mountain”! However, we got a shouting from Sharma uncle and after that, we left them alone. They seemed unsportive at that time, but now I think they had every right not to play Holi if they didn't want to.

Mruthrunjaya Rao uncle's family were sportive and joined us happily.  

Sometimes, my father went to play Holi with some of his advocate friends, especially the Mandhanis. They were Marwadis, and after playing Holi, they also had bhang. My father once had bhang and came home and sat in his office. I still remember him telling us, "A client came and was standing and talking to me. Suddenly it seemed as though he tilted 90 degrees - he was horizontal! I wondered what was wrong with him, and then realised it must be the bhang!"

Left to right (foreground): Hemalatha, Jaya, Sulochana (Vishwanath), Sulochana (neighbour), Sujatha, Kavitha, Leela, Seenu, Left to right (behind):  Srikanth, Kishan, Ramesh, Ashok, Vidya 

Hari, Jaya, Sadhana, Gautham (our neighbour Revathi in the background)

Some of my uncles disappeared for a few hours after playing at home. They played vigorous Holi with their friends and returned home around 3 pm, a combination of dirty silver and black, with streaks of pink. I never liked seeing them like that.

Another tradition at Ratnakara was getting idli-wada from Shankar Cafe for everyone. There were sweets, of course, and everyone had breakfast and made merry. 

The evening was reserved for beer drinking on the terrace, chatting, nostalgia, craziness, again masterminded by my father and Mohan mama. Some of us were too young to join in the beer-drinking, so we hung around and had tried to have fun! 

When Mohan mama fell ill with a heart ailment, he wrote a letter to my mother in which he said that all he wanted was to become okay and play Holi in Warangal. He did not get better.

Towards 1980s, most of the youngsters left and festivities in Ratnakara toned down a great deal. However, someone or the other continued to visit my parents and they played for much longer than we did.