Low Key Holi?

Pushpa Gupta (in white t) regales... It's business as usual in the Club

Holi, the Indian ‘festival of colors’, is day-after-tomorrow.
With Shekhawat excusing himself from taking part (ref post of March 16), the celebration this year is hanging in the balance. Adding to the uncertainty is the continued absence of Yusuf Rassiwala and Kiran Prakash. Both are currently abroad.
If anybody is upset by this turn of events, it is Bijoy Gupta. He had tried to convince Shekhawat

Holi Mahamoorkh of 2017
(file photo)

to “do something for Holi”, but to no avail. Yesterday there was some talk of keeping the celebration low key by restricting ourselves to some basic color play and light refreshments – even doing away with the customary thandai. Today, the subject was not brought up.
Time was when the festival used to be celebrated by the Club with great fervor and revelry. Member or no member, the entire Garden took part. Two years back, at the instance of Gupta, we also had a Mahamoorkh Sammelan (The Fool’s Convention) on Holi. It was a huge draw (ref post of March 11, 2017) meant to be replicated every year.
Suddenly, all that enthusiasm has evaporated. A sense of collective inertia has set in the Club that accounts for an abysmal lack of interest. When Gupta’s wife, Pushpa (another enthusiastic reveler in the past) appeared this morning, we expected things to stir up a bit. But she too studiously avoided any mention of Holi.
Sadly, nobody is even complaining!

Lt Col Angad Singh (rtd):
We have been celebrating Holi with a lot of josh. This year our strength has depleted. But it must not make us so despondent as to not celebrate the festival at all. We should have a positive attitude. I suggest we celebrate, even as it may be on a low key.