The Dying Excitement Of Festivals

I don’t know why but since 2020 (COVID era) festivals don’t feel the same anymore. I had the excitement and would eagerly wait for Holi (and other festivals) before. Maybe it’s because I have grown up? But that doesn’t explain why others feel the same. Somehow I think this is related with the growth of short form content on the Internet like Instagram Reels and Tiktok. People are busy scrolling and the algorithm is busy feeding them, the cycle continues. Those who know me personally are aware that I have somewhat a grudge against this form of content.

Anyway today, I woke up late and had completely forgotten that it was Holi until someone in my family wished me.

After I got ready, one of my friends from school called me and within a few minutes I fired up my bike’s engine and went to his house. The goal was simple, return back home completely drenched in water. While I was going there I saw empty streets which was odd. Back in the day the streets well full of people and children and there used to be chaos everywhere. Now only a few people were playing holi.

When I got to his house I found out that the people in his colony were not celebrating holi due to a tragedy which had happened. A girl while returning from her graduation was crushed by an out of control truck, she died on the spot :( Crazy how these things happen. She must have been very happy and then all of a sudden it ends.. It’s out of your control, the entropy of this world it will keep increasing and you can’t do anything about it. After all we are insignificant creatures living on what is a pale blue dot.

Anyway, after roaming on the streets for a while not a single drop of water was in our fortune :P End the end I slowed down to 5Kmph and allowed a couple of small children to spray water on us.

PS: I wrote this a while ago but never got around finishing it.

~ Shrirang Kahale