Around this time last year my fiance Jenn and I were in India for the Holi Festival. Holi was one of the main reasons we went to India. I had seen so many pictures of this spiritual occasion which absolutely fascinated me. We ended up in Jaipur, ("The Pink City") for the festival. I'm not going to get into the history of Jaipur, but what I'm told is that many years back the people of Jaipur painted all the buildings pink just before the town was to be visited by the king. It's a very different place, quite astounding. As our driver is taking us into town we start to see all these Indians covered in color. Many of them are riding along side us on their bikes and scooters. I'm just giddy with excitement to hurry out and photograph everything in sight. We rush to check in at the hotel and head out the door. At the time Jenn and I weren't engaged, it was my plan to propose to her in the middle of all the color madness. I tucked the engagement ring in my pocket as we headed out the door. We asked our driver to drop us off downtown, he seamed a little concerned, but I wasn't sure why. I was on a mission and I didn't want anything getting in the way, I guess I kind of ignored the concerned vibe he was giving off.
He dropped us off in the middle of town, pointed out a landmark and told us to meet him there in two hours. We were instantly bombarded by teenage Indian boys covered in colored powders. It was humbling at first. When you get involved and "play Holi" you are asking to get covered in powders. We knew this. What happens when you get approached to play Holi is they hug you, wipe color on your face and say "happy Holi!" We were the only westerners in sight, we stuck out like a sore thumb. They kept coming at us like a disturbed bees nest. It instantly got overwhelming.
Jenn had read in Lonely Planet that it's a good idea for women to be covered up and that there might be a chance that she might get groped. What Lonely Planet should have read, is that if you are a female in India during Holi, you will definitely get groped. Do not go outside! We started to realize that there weren't any females in sight.
These sexually deprived, drunken teenage boys used the Holi hug as a way of grabbing her breasts. By the time we left, we were surrounded. We ended up fleeing from downtown in a tuk tuk, only a half hour into the two hours our driver had allotted us.
