A first-person vlog transcript of Nate and Kara Buchanan participating in Holi near Vrindavan, India. The video documents their preparations (coconut oil, cheap sunglasses, protecting camera), travel to a nearby town about 50 km from Vrindavan, arrival at crowded temple celebrations, interactions with locals, dancing, selfies, and their return to a taxi after hours at the festival. The tone is upbeat, experiential, and informal.
Questions this video answers
About 50 km away from Vrindavan.
Less than $3.
About 75 cents.
Chapters
Sam.
Today is finally the day. One of the main reasons that we've come to India is to celebrate Holi. And today begins the Holi celebrations. If our faces look a little shiny and our hair looks a little shinier than normal, that's because prepared.
We're as prepared as we can be. We've put coconut oil all over ourselves because apparently there's a little bit of color thrown around.
There's gonna be a lot of color.
And it could stick to your skin and dry out your hair and all this stuff. So we were told to do this.
We've also bought cheap throwaway sunglasses for less than $3.
Protection for the eyes.
I'm wearing all white. I don't think that's mandatory, but it sounded like a lot of fun.
I took off all of my jewelry because you just never know. I'm wearing a bathing suit under my clothes.
And last but not least, we've done everything that we can to protect our big camera. We have. And inside that, another plastic cover and.
A screen in on the front.
We're not sure if we're ready, but we've done our best. So the town where today's celebration is happening is actually about 50 km away from Vrindavan, which is where we're staying. So we're about to jump in a taxi and head there now.
We're officially here. It looks like the celebration is already underway. There's already so many people with color.
All over their faces.
Guys on the side of the street selling color. So many bad. Madam.
It's less than a dollar. Got a color.
Madam. Madam.
Okay, thank you.
Call him.
Okay. Our time's. The Dr. Is gonna wait on us where he dropped us off. He was very nice, took us his color, walked us to the street, where, I guess, I don't know, the festival is gonna start somewhere around here.
The problem is he speaks no English, and we just communicated by pointing at things. So I'd say the chances of us getting back are like 50, 50 right now.
Thank you.
I wanted to fit in better. So about lady for 75 cents.
I think it's nice.
Goes with the outfit.
You match that guy.
We have no clue where we're going. We're just following all these people upstairs.
It's not too crazy.
The higher we go, the tighter the streets get and the more people seem to emerge.
I got it.
Good catch.
Good catch.
So it turns out everybody's been walking through this giant temple that sits on the top of the hill. We just got here. Things are getting a lot crazier.
Can't see out of the sun.
We made it.
This is awesome.
It's.
We just retreated up to the top of the temple, where it's a little more calm still. Tons of people wanting to take selfies.
The selfies has really surprised me, and I also think I have color in my lungs. Like, literally, they're throwing it while you're breathing, and you just can't help but, like, get it in your mouth and in your nose.
I had a big green ball of color just, like, go straight in my mouth when I had it open.
But everybody's having so much fun. It's honestly not as crazy as I thought it was gonna be. If you want to be in the party, you go downstairs. If you want a break, you come upstairs.
This has been incredible.
The girls are being super fun. Like, I would be taking selfies with all these guys because, like, soon as you take one, somebody grabs you for another. And this girl came and come dance and grabbed me out of the group. I got to go dancing there. I love it. I love the people. I love the color. I love the drum. Oh, they want to stop.
Thanks. One, two, three. So far, the camera's holding up well. I wasn't the only one crazy enough to bring a massive camera with this setup to the party.
All right, breaks over. Going to dance back into the madness.
We left our shoes here for the last three hours. I was really worried, but they're still there.
So this guy follows behind us. I don't think he speaks any English, but he's been super.
It gets a lot grosser when the water gets involved.
We have left the temple.
We've been here for hours. Captain's waiting on us. We've developed a bodyguard.
He doesn't speak any English, but he's very nice, and he tells the people to quit squirting us with water.
He's been following us around for about an hour now. We told him, thank you. We're leaving, and he's still.
We thought we were gonna make it out of here dry. We were sorely mistaken. Well, we have successfully made it back to the car. Our driver is nowhere in sight, and I have a good feeling when he shows up, he's gonna be like, no, no. You're not getting in my car.
Which I don't blame him for, but I'm not sure what we should do.
9 2. 190 is your phone number.
Okay, thank you.
Nice to meet you.
I don't know what made him turn around.
He stood here with us at our taxi for a few minutes and then.
Said, I love you. Gave us his phone number.
Now he's gone.
What a day.
My cheeks are sore from smiling.
He came back for us.
Thank you.
He says he doesn't care if we get this car.
I feel bad, but.
Happy holy night.
Thank you. Because I didn't have enough already.
You're a pro. I will say it's a very gentle wiping of the face. They're not just, like, smacking you in the face when they're putting the. The color back on.
