Today was a literal flash of colors, laughter, and culture. I can 100% say with confidence that we all walked away with a new favorite memory today. Let me back up a bit. Today, we woke up after the first night in India and were ready to take on the day. We first headed to the airport to pick up Sean Moore, Antonio, and Huey since they just landed. For those of you who don’t know, Huey and Antonio were competing in Oklahoma for the Academic Bowl national competition and brought home gold! Before picking them up, we stopped by a local breakfast place and ate omelet sandwiches. The sandwiches were so good with a surprise kick of unexpected spice every 3-4 bites. Quickly after picking up the boys, we headed straight to the Holi Festival at a nice private event. 

Upon arrival, we were immediately greeted by local deaf people. They were so friendly and always smiling, I felt like their cheeks were glued to open. We got powder applied to our faces as a welcome, which soon turned into a full-on powder chaos. Everyone was throwing or slapping powder onto each other, and it became a rainbow madness. The music, vibe of the room, and the color chaos just made it a memorable and enjoyable moment. We were all either laughing in the moment or washing off powder in our mouths from smiling too much. After the powder madness ended, the mood shifted to the music as we danced along with other strangers. It felt like one big family all dancing with each other and enjoying this rare moment.    

At around noon, appetizers were served, and we devoured the delicious options of chicken kabob, spicy eggrolls, corn cheese balls, and more. The dancing and powder consumed our calories, so you best believe we were starving like we hadn’t eaten for days. Plates were emptied as we returned to the dance floor to be surprised with a rain dance. A rain dance is where you dance and jump around in the rain, or in this case, the spinney water sprinklers above us. Our powder turned into a watercolor look, and our shirts blended into one color, but the carelessness of just dancing around was amazing. We returned to the table for dinner and received rice with a spicy orange sauce, Jalebi (a common Indian sweet snack), and more. Dinner was very filling as we were still stuffed from the appetizers.

Once again, we returned to the dance floor and spent the final moments with our new deaf friends learning new dances and enjoying conversations. These people varied in age, gender, and background, so it was nice to see a much more diverse group come together. As the event neared its end, our eyes were drooping, and we were close to needing to tape them up. Luckily, we haven’t reached that point, but we were ready to fall asleep. On the ride back to the hotel, I am confident everyone had an amazing nap. We all showered off the colors and headed to visit our tour guide’s home.

The colors of Holi still stained many of us, but we just shrugged and looked forward to meeting Amol’s (guide) family. We were greeted by the family of 4 and were seated on the floor with a mat. We also got to see the apartment itself, and it was basically three rooms in one. The living room led to a bedroom, then to a dining room/kitchen. It was very small, but this is very normal in a heavily populated city like Mumbai.  This moment was a reminder of how real DST is. We were seated in a small living room at around 9pm and just kept chatting with Amol until 10pm. Time flew by fast, and we ate a late -late dinner. We ate with our hands because it's a cultural practice that helps us feel full faster, since we can feel the food itself. We were served a rice dish with traditional Indian sauce and chicken. Everyone devoured the entire dish, and some asked for more. A good home-cooked meal never goes wrong. Feeling stuffed, tired, and warm, everyone was so ready to fall asleep. Looking back at this wonderful day, I can say it’s going to be a favorite memory for a while.

~ Melanie