Colourless Holi

For the first time in years, we celebrated Holi without colour. The corona virus outbreak had done us in (ref post of March 7). Let alone the revelry associated with the festival, there

Bihari Milwani (l) brought us ghewar. Shekhawat (back to camera) distributes

were barely half a dozen of us for the best part of the exercises today. It was only towards the end that Bihari Milwani joined us, followed by two ladies.
Milwani had brought us a box of ghewar, a traditional sweetmeat distributed on the occasion. That was all the ‘celebration’ we could have on the festival of colours this year.
Time was when Holi used to be celebrated on a grand scale with gay abandon as members, drunk on thandai (often spiked by bhang) plastered one another with colours, wet and dry. We even held a Mahamurkh Sammelan once and Bijoy Gupta was declared winner. Now, the fear of contracting the corona virus banished all such thoughts.
Nevertheless, we had our ways of deriving humour from the grim situation. On the talk of how the deadly virus could spread through currency notes, Gupta had a piece of advice for Shekhawat: “Better hand over all your money to me. Or else, put the notes in one place and set fire to them. The virus will die at once and you will be able to live in peace.”
But Shekhawat was worried for another reason. The exercises were getting over and not a single lady had come. “Have the ladies gone on strike?” he asked, repeatedly looking at the gate. Finally, Naseem Khan and Sayeeda Sayed showed up. Only then could he heave a sigh of relief!