'Hold it, it is Holi again'

Due to the increasing number of letters we've been receiving through email, I could not help but reply to some of my Indian friends who reminded us about India's social festival otherwise known as 'Holi'.

Last year at this time, I could vividly remember the long walk we made to the Jawarhalal Nehru University and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication where we had stayed while pursuing the Development Journalism programme.

On that day unlike the typical atmosphere we usually see on campus when some of my colleagues would complain bitterly about the attitude of some of the Indians towards the foreign students. The streets were littered with colours, we were told that every March, Indians from various walks of life converged on various locations and display their colours, some would even sprinkle it on you.

For me that day was important at least if anything it symbolised the cultural diversity that virtually every Indian talk about, and above all it was a day full of smiles, dancing and refreshing moments even for lecturers and foreigners. And some people went to suggest that once a girl sprinkle colours on you, then it means she has chosen you. True or false, I don't know.