Let us thank our government for banning all events during this year's Holi because, like the previous governments in the past, they too have followed the 'ban' this and that so that the CDOs and the men in blue can rest and not work overtime to provide security and keep our cities safe.
Okay, the excuse this time is that the election is near and nobody wants any mishaps, but don't we have like 300,000 security personnel, including the 'Myadi' ones, to make sure that peace prevails? Well, you might say they are here for only election duties but most of them in the valley have been used as 'go to the local bhatti and grab all the local raksis you can get and bring them to the local police station' delivery agents.
But why don't our TU-Gold-Medal-Winning bureaucrats have much common sense when it comes to planning anything? When the government announced the election date, did they not realize that it was right after Holi? Whoever made the decision must not have a Hamro Patro app installed in his or her phone. They must have consulted the Election Commission before announcing the date, right? I guess not or the folks at the EC are to be blamed for ruining everyone's Holi this year.
Why do we celebrate Holi? Well, all I know is that most of our Hindu festivals, including Holi celebrate the victory of good over evil. It is also the 'end of winter' party thing and welcoming the spring, and something to do with Holika, and also to mend ruined relationships, ask forgiveness, and be kind to each other.
And some of us have fun drinking booze, bhaang, or bamboo shoots. Just added the bamboo to make it a trifecta, but thanks to the government, some of you will not get to enjoy them and not be able to attend parties or events. I am wrong. We are Nepalis, we do plan ahead when it comes to having fun but when it comes to the country and our future, we seem to leave it to either fate or blame the government for all our problems.
I hear that all of the liquor shops in the country are now empty. The boozers have all stocked up their stocks and it might not only be for Holi but could be a week-long weekend party. Affter a week, the country wil wake up to a new beginning or the same old coalition drama and the mix-max old and new jumbo cabinet or the young guns might finally drive the Sheriffs out of town.
We don't know but let us be hopeful that we will have a safe and fun Holi with our families and voting will go smoothly. It doesn't matter who wins or loses... as long as there are free and fair elections, we will always have the opportunity to decide when to bring them in or kick them out of power but it is high time, the patronage politics played by the older parties come to an end.
Let us not talk about politics today. Let's get back to Holi. We play with colors, but most of them are contaminated with lead, and let's hope that once our new government shows up, we will have better monitoring and severe actions taken against those selling contaminated products.
And it's funny that even though we have banned all advertisement in print or TV when it comes to alcoholic beverages, every kid knows the name of our beers and other major alcoholic products because 99% of any events, be it Holi or musical concerts or street festivals, seem to be sponsored by our alcohol manufacturers.
And why are alcohol companies so eager to sponsor events that cater mostly to the young crowds? Is it because they make too much money and want to uplift the music scene or is it because this is the only way to attract young ones to drink alcohol in the long run? Or is there a bigger tax scam going on, as you can deduct expenses in the name of sponsorships? I guess somebody has the answer.
Hope our 'coming soon' new government will also look into this and figure out a way how not to allow alcohol companies to influence the young kids from starting drinking early and it's about time, we ban the sale of alcohol to anyone under the age of 21 but at the same time also allow strictly monitored local raksi manufacturing, tax them, ensure quality control and who knows, we could be making billions of dollars exporting Aila and even frozen Choila in the days to come.
Happy Holi Everyone! Enjoy Holi with your family and do not go overboard with colors or booze or bhaang or even water balloons. Love each other, be kind and God Bless!