Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

It is hard to imagine these enormous creatures playing polo. They are slow (in the confines of the stadium), they are not particularly agile, and the ball spends much of the time lost under the feet of the animals. Nevertheless, the game was special because of the celebration of the animals during the procession around the stadium, and of course because of the beautiful colors and designs that were painted on the animals. This event occurred during the Holi festival, which is an important springtime festival of colors. During the festival, people take beautiful colors of powdered dye and mix it with water. Then, for a period of three days, people excitedly spread the color throughout the country, especially on random tourists. There was such a stark contrast between the bright colors of the dye and the browns of the Rajasthan region of India.