Colonel R.D. Singh
The moment you think of celebrating holi, it brings a smile, and splash of colours in your mind.
Be it a village, town, or city, holi does bring people of all religions together. Barring a few incidents of rowdism, the festival is vibrant and colourful And aren’t you reminded of Amitabh Bachchan flirting with Rekha during holi in movie Silsila!
Atleast, I am reminded of my unit celebrating holi when I was commanding it in Lalgarh Jattan (Rajasthan) in 1998. As I was leaving the house for the unit to join the troops playing holi, my wife warned me “watch your drinks”. I assured her that I will reach the finish line – back home without being carried.
But during holi, the Commanding Officer (CO) can only propose, but the troops dispose. So, accompanied by the Risaldar Major (RM) and Regimental Police (RP) Dafadar, I went to the first Squadron (total of four squadrons to be visited). We hugged and applied colours to one another. Each Squadron has six troops.
When the CO goes around, each troop seated as an identity, wants to show a drink to him. And the CO can not refuse lest the troops feel offended. So, by the time I was through with the first squadron, I was already down six small drinks.
So far so good. But there were three more squadrons to go and 18 more small drinks. I am not a Keshto Mukherjee. So, I thought of a strategy – take but don’t do bottoms up. Learn to dispose.
But still, one has to drink with the troops, to be able to dance with them. Infact, by the time I reached second squadron, I was already high. Every body was in high spirits and called Jai of the Squadron and CO Saheb. Now it had becomme more of competition. In which Squadron the CO Saheb will enjoy the most?
By the time, I reached the third squadron, from high, I had reached the stage of quite high. Now apart from dancing, CO Saheb was cracking jokes with the boys and there were peels of laughter. Even safaiwalas and dhobis got a chance to hug the CO in this happy state. I reminded my self of my resolve to reach the finish line. The RM gave me a knowing look. And with that midway correction, I reached the last squadron – HQ Sqn. By now the head was spinning. When going gets tough, the tough gets giving. I realized that the best form of defence is offence. So, I asked the RM to quickly get me six bottles of rum. Rather than boys giving me drinks, I proud them drinks. They were thrilled. I said ‘lets have bhangra’, as there were enough Sikh boys around. To the tune of drum beats, each one of us had become a Daler Mehandi.
While the bhangra was on, the R M called for my vehicle. I wished a happy holi to every one, and got into the vehicle. Drenched in colours, and full of spirits, I quickly landed into the arms of my waiting wife. Thereafter, I was on cloud 9. Happy Holi!
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