STUDENT ENTRY

On March 8^th, 2012 we were invited to the marvelous home of Sandra to celebrate the Hindu holiday of Holi, the blissful celebration of life and color. After an achingly long taxi ride we arrived at her home, nestled between orange groves, her lawn dotted with shrines. Upon our arrival, Sandra and her sons peacefully settled us in their living room for a bit of history about Hinduism and Holi. As recorded, many Indians were brought to Trinidad as indentured servants after slavery was abolished. With them, they brought Hinduism. I never expected Trinidad to be so full of this; many houses are decorated with colorful flags celebrating the completion of a Hindu ritual. Sandra was an expert, and she was written a few books on Hindu and Holi. Before our delicious lunch of aloo pies and roti, Sandra concluded her lecture with a compelling story, the story of how she found Hinduism. She awoke one night in the middle of the night, and felt the need to chant; she chanted for hours and prayed for the world with great generosity. From there she started building shrines and has seen the power of energy and love.

After lunch we were given a tour of her shrines and the religious significance of each god or goddess. She told us to believe in power, in earth, and shared profound wisdom and generosity. She blessed us all.

After our tour we engaged in the celebration of Holi, spewing a multitude of colorful dyes at each other. By the end of the celebrations we all had a layer of purple, blue, and green on our bodies. It was full out war, and it was insanely fun.

We were saddened to leave, but left with our minds and bodies to some degree restored. We thank Sandra and all the people we have met so far for their generosity and warmth.

Katie,

Rutherford, New Jersey