Holi Hai

The moon was round and almost full.
“Two more sleeps to Holi, ” said Gauri.
“One and two,” counted Aneesh.

The next morning, Grandma held out a bowl full of colored paper. “Gather around! Let’s pick gulai to make.”
“What is gulai, Grandma?” asked Gauri.
“All the colors we will smash and smear on Holi day,” Grandma replied, “to celebrate spring.”

“We’re going to make them from nature,” said Dad. “From leaves, spices…”
“And flowers,” finished Aneesh.

Everyone closed their eyes and pulled out a colored paper from the bowl. Dad had blue. Mama grabbed green. Grandma picked saffron orange. Grandpa had purple. Aneesh got yellow.

Gauri got upset.

“I didn’t get my favorite color!” she yelled, scrunching the paper in her fist. “I don’t want red. I want yellow.”
“Gauri, all colors are part of spring, ” said Mom. “We keep the colors we picked.”

Everyone got busy making gulai. Except Gauri.
Dad boiled cabbage leaves to make blue.
“Want to give me a hand?” he asked.
Gauri shook her head. “No!” she shouted.

Mom spread mint and spinach leaves on the floor to dry.
“I’ll grind them up to make green,” she said. “Would you like to help?”
But Gauri didn’t help Mom either.

“Yellow,” shouted Aneesh. “With turmeric. Look!”
Grandma rubbed sandalwood on a stone to get saffron orange. “It smells nice,” she said.

Grandpa crushed beetroot into a bucket of water. “This will make a nice purple, ” he said.
But Gauri didn’t join in.