Outside, everyone seems to be going mad. People are yelling. My neighbour's dog is barking. The dog yesterday had killed the neighbour's cat. The pets had been together for the past four years, were brought together before either had opened their eyes. But now that the cat is dead, my neighbours don't seem to care. Neither does the dog. It is barking as usual.

Strange people have been coming to visit parents. For that matter, my parents are also strange today. They were up earlier than usual and there has been this excessive activity in the house that is making me dizzy. Even the phone has not been quite since morning. I've often complained that for a family the size of mine, six phones are too many phones. And never has my belief been stronger than today. Not a minute has passed when a phone has not been ringing or receiving messages.

There is nothing interesting on television. Just some strange people dancing around trees. They are so full of beans that they make me sick. Nothing on the music channels either. There is a familiar anchor, but her make up isn't. Usually, she is almost unclothed. Today I can't make out. She looks like some kind of a body canvas.

In college right now, everyone would be going mad. People usually don't need a reason, especially in college. One definitely doesn't need a reason if one is in third year. It is common to feel that the third year is the last time in at least a decade that one can have fun. And precisely for this reason there are senti parties, lots of booze, silly sentimental events, graduation dinner, conti parties and the like. And of course, there is the madness that seems to grip everyone today; not that it is exclusive to third years. For that matter, the first years are the maddest of the lot.

In school too, around this time of the year, people used to touch the nadir of insanity. Clothes would get torn, mud would be thrown and people would be almost buried alive. Uncharacteristically, the administration would stand by and watch. Some of the people would even join in the mayhem. And this lunacy would continue for a whole day. People would tire themselves out to the extent that the next forty-eight hours would be spent sleeping.

Just this morning as I was picking up the newspaper from where the delivery person leaves it, I saw some hideous looking people drive on a motorcycle from in front of the house. They were screaming. They were probably drunk too. And they were not the only ones, because soon a column of motorcycles passed from in front of the house. All of the riders looking scary, their features unrecognizably altered. All of them screaming. All of them drunk. All of them crazy.

My parents have spent the whole morning trying to get me to join in the stupidity, and I've been avoiding it. First I was pretending to read the newspaper, then I was going through some literature scattered on their desk; I even pretended to clean my room. Being on the computer is my last refuge.

What is the big deal about today anyways? My neighbour's dog was barking yesterday too, but then there seemed to be an all-prevailing sanity. People seemed emotionally stable. What has happened overnight? What is it about today that everyone goes mad for? And then, as suddenly as this insanity sets on, it is all over. The day is past. People get back to being normal. Some will carry scars from today, but in a week even those will be gone.

For the next few weeks, till another occasion hits the public consciousness, there will be no desultory celebration. No loudspeakers spewing out unmelodious songs. No unexpected, and I dare say, unwelcome guests. No frenzied activity. Perfect peace. Calm. Sanity.

I don't understand holi.