Last year, I treated carnaval to be just a nice holiday to go back home. Growing up in India, I have seen several carnavals in a year on several occasions, mainly religious ones. When I heard about the carnaval after arriving to the Netherlands, as a newcomer, I was in fact quite scared to get drenched in beer or even to get lost in the city. I spent some sleepless nights thinking about an appropriate costume to wear in order to attend the carnaval, then gave up and booked my flights to India.

Now I have lived in this place longer, have known the place better and loved the country for its nice, warm welcoming culture. Therefore this time, I didn’t bother about costumes or beer much, but just wanted to experience the vibrant mood of my city and around. The experience was indeed wonderful; with all the people around, in weirdest, colorful costumes. For the first few moments, I felt quite out of place in even my most colorful dress (without spending any sleepless nights this time!). However in a while, I felt the real colors of the festival aren’t in dresses, but in the joyful ambience of the place.

At the end of the day, once you take off the costumes and wash away the makeup, it is all about retaining the colors in your hearts. I always try to remember the essence of any festival in my mind and it gives me energy to face all upcoming tasks, problems in life. This weekend, the province of Brabant offered such a wonderful opportunity to refill our hearts with the colors of happiness and enthusiasm. Hope you haven’t missed it!