(It's not blood)

The photo to the right [see "about me"] was snapped in Delhi at the end of the first day of Holi--a festival with roots in the flouting of caste boundaries, one that involves throwing dyes and colored water on passersby (and tourists, as one might imagine, are favored targets)--shows me with many hours' worth of pigment on my face; eventually, it all runs red. For weeks afterward, everything is colored magenta--even dogs [see inset] and cows!