What better than reminiscing about the hostel-wali Holi amidst the colors, happiness, and friends? Being at the campus in around the 1950s or 1960s, you must remember the Simple Harmonic Holi that took over the hostels of IIT (BHU) and filled them with laughter.
The chronicle revolves around the tense days of exam preparation and exhilarating Holi celebrations.
Waste machine oil was collected in drums from college workshops and hair oil from the rooms of the students on the eve of Holika Dehen in preparation for the main event. A paste prepared with mud, machine oil, hair oil, and water was spread on the verandah of one wing for 70 to 100 feet.
The excitement brought out the mischievousness of students, and so all of us collected towels and clothes hanging dry or bicycles kept outside rooms and tied them to the mango tree in the center of Limbdi. The motto was simple: have fun while college days still existed.
As the day of Holi came around, so did the tales of thrill and fun. The shenanigans began at seven in the morning, when we donned white kurta-pajama and looked at the floor with complete fascination. The inaugural sliding was done by the first years, who had to slide across the floor without raising their heads or legs. Not following the rule would only lead to re-doing it!
After the first yearites, came the seniors who followed the same path and indulged themselves in this squirrelly task.
After this grand celebration, all of us engulfed in the mud visited selected teachers and principals for Holi Milan and treated them with sweets. On coming back, everyone cleaned themselves up and had a grand fiesta in their mess. The Carnival would end with the ravishing of sweets and Gulal Holi at Godowlia.
As another Holi went by in 2022, all I could reminisce about was the Simple Harmonic Holi I celebrated in my time. The sheer joy of being a young student surrounded by friends in festivities is one of the highlights of my life.
This article has been written by Sh. Shive Narayan (EEE '56) and edited by Faiz Aman (MIN '26), Content Team, SAIC, IIT (BHU), Varanasi.