Fey – Slightly insane. Suggestive of an elf in strangeness and otherworldliness. “the fey quality was there, the ability to see the moon at midday”.
elfin – Usually good-naturedly mischievous. “perpetrated a practical joke with elfin delight”.
fervor – Feelings of great warmth and intensity. The state of being emotionally aroused and worked up.
copious – Large in number or quantity (especially of discourse). Affording an abundant supply. “copious provisions”
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The acute feyness of Holi
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That time of the year again. Curly haired and sensitive skinned I, Swami, dreaded this with all my heart. The over-zealous use of pernicious powdered colors combined with the opulent use of water; as well as other elements such as mud, small rocks, spit and on rare occasions piss, which I had seen other kids insert in their water bombs, never sat well with me. The colors stuck in my hair, while trying to wash them off, enforced me to have a wrestle-mania tournament on my scalp. While the excess of water made my skin swell and blots like some amphibian creature.
With Holi just a day away I was starting to feel the walls of pear pressure closing in on me. With the enthusiasms of mischievous kids on full-throttle I had to be extra careful. Never turn into that blind corner without prudence or a pichkari loaded with malicious water will find its mark on your sharp clothes. Always look up while coming onto the street otherwise bombs loaded with arcane ingredients will detonate on your marvelous hairdo. One can only be so careful; my chances of staying pristine were meek.
The day of my reckoning was here. I pepped out of my bedroom window and saw that the preparations for the gaudy debauchery were in full swing. Platters of assorted colors were being arranged, basins were being filled with a dark liquid, soil was being infused with water to create a huge puddle of mud and a green intoxicating drink was being prepared.
Kids were pouring in the society garden. All of them armed with an arsenal of plastic bags full of color, balloons and pichkaris and a glint in their eyes seeking absolute anarchy. Suddenly Arun, the eldest of the lot and the leader of that chaotic gang, spotted me and shouted,
“So how is it looking from up there little guy?” To which I quickly covered myself behind the window hoping that his scorn would pass, but in vain.
“I see you up there you sensitive boy. No use shrinking behind your velvet cushions.”
“You talk too much Arun! Hey Small-scale you better get your tiny butt down right away or else I am coming up to pillage your house”, this was Hema the second in command of the gang, she was a highly skilled orator and was infinitely more devious than Arun; already a strong contender for the leader’s post.
Rest of the gang gesticulated approvingly.
Owing to Hema’s menacing words I, Swami the Small-scale, was forced to join the elaborate display of senselessness. My priorities were straight, don’t get too wet or dirty, protect the hair, display a comradely amount of playfulness and retreat back to my abode pronto.
As soon as I got down, Bam! Bam! Two small urchins hit me squarely in the back with water bombs and fled before I could turn. I began to move. Navigating carefully through the streams of adults who lay scattered like landmines in a battlefield, one wrong move and your leg could blow off, applying streaks of bright red and yellow colors on each other.
I hid behind cars and cowered behind pillars to avoid their scintillating gaze. I ducked, ran, took cover behind trees as I avoided the water bombs which went past zipping across my ears. I caught a few stray pichkari sprays and a couple clouds of color on my shirt but I was relatively unfazed.
I reached the garden with highly alert senses like that of a ninja. The garden itself was a kaleidoscopic display of colors. You could have covered the entire color spectrum in that place. Urchins were lashing each other with jets of water. Colors were being mashed up on each other’s face with a merciless fervor. The green liquid was consumed in abundance. The smallest trooper of the gang Bunty spotted me and gave out a battle cry, ‘Guys let’s get him!’
Fearing that the charging battalion would trample me I made a dash for it.
I ran like a mad man through the crowd. My body was catching little shrapnel of the on-going carnival. Kids behind me were howling and screaming. While running a stray jet of water entered my left ear and made me go deaf. The acoustics of my brain changed and pushed me into a state of confusion. In that frantic movement of befuddlement I took a right turn and leapt under a parked car. My pursuers following the same track were startled to see my sudden disappearance.
It was not long before Bunty’s tactical mind spotted me and Arun’s and Hema’s brawny hands pulled me out of my hiding place. I was subjected by a thorough wrath of the gang’s colorful brutality. They methodically drenched me with colored liquid, making sure that even my undergarments are soaked. Then copious amounts of colors were unleashed upon me forming a thick coating over my entire body and big lumps in my hair: the wrestle-mania tournament was assured
now. I was heaving and shivering and hoping that this was over now.
Without any warning the gang lifted me up by all my fours and made their way towards the garden. My merry procession was met by various shrieks and howls.
More color was smeared on my already discolored self.
I was dragged and shoved into the center of the garden where my reckoning awaited me.
‘Lay down quietly with your eyes tightly shut’, commanded Hema. Having nowhere to go I obliged her. All around me people giggled and tittered wickedly. It began with Arun jumping furiously beside me splashing mud all over me. The other soon followed this suit. Huge cakes of mud where scooped and piled on my head. I received a nice rub down of mud on my back and torso. Few of the smaller miscreants deposited globs of mud in my under garments. Upon getting up I looked like an escaped convict who has crawled out of the sewer. Having completely disheveled me the gang finally left me alone.
The insanity around me continued to swell.
Adults under the influence of the green liquid became loud and boisterous. Here I was dirtied to the point of no turning back. It felt that the mud and the colors would never wash off me completely. You could build another garden by scrapping the soil off of me. The soil seeped inside and seemed to become a part of me. What I was feeling outside now I started feeling inside till the time it was no longer there. I felt completely at ease with the dirt over me, it felt like an extension of my body.
I dug my hands deep in the earth and picked up a big load of mud. I rolled the mud in my hand till it become a perfect globe. Arun was standing just a few feet away from me. I took the shot and my mud bomb found Arun on the back. Seeing my tattered condition he scurried away. All of this happened quickly now.
I took down Hema with a similar bomb.
Bunty was bombarded with 2 bombs. Then the little miscreants appeared in my cross-hair. Rapidly making mud bombs I took them out one by one. I ran after the ones who try to flee. They tried to fight back with their colors and pichkaris but they were trivial distractions to me. I continued my mud fueled extravagance till all the soil around me depleted.
To tell you the truth I actually enjoyed the last part. By being completely soiled I underwent a psychological catharsis which ejected away my phobias of dirt. Never have I relished the feel of so many alien elements on my body.
That’s the point of holi I think. Diverging away from the daily mundaneness and experiencing that momentary bout of innocent insanity is what drives hordes of people every year to become filthy. Here I am after my bout of insanity comprehending my new found love for filth while I wrestle away with my tangled hair.
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This is part of the series on Descriptive Adjectives and words for Creative Writing
To learn the ” meaning ” of an adjective or word from the story. Stories are known as fiction because they have fictitious characters.
An acerbic criticism of some imaginary
( gulling, gamey, clamant, exigent, blabbing, gabbling, palavering, crotchety, inveigling, cantankerous, blarneying, wheedling, chousing ) women.
Strange is this world …. Even the most harridan woman expects her husband to be uxorious.
Reading all the stories will teach you most useful, practical, adjectives for women. The verbs explain what women do in the stories.
Make sure you see
and
https://skmclasses.wordpress.com/accolades-and-appreciations-received-from-students-and-parents/
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acerbic – Sour or bitter in taste. Harsh or corrosive in tone. “an acerbic tone piercing otherwise flowery prose”.
gulling – Make a fool or dupe of. Gull – Fool or hoax. codding. twitting – Harass with persistent criticism or carping.
carping – Persistent petty and unjustified criticism. Raise trivial objections.
caviling. chicaning. chousing – Defeat someone through trickery or deceit. jockeying, shafting
gamey – Suggestive of sexual impropriety. racy.
clamant – Conspicuously and offensively loud; given to vehement outcry. Demanding attention. “clamant needs”. clamorous.
strident – Being sharply insistent on being heard. “strident demands”. Unpleasantly loud and harsh. sibilant. spirant. fricative. continuant.
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exigent – Demanding attention. “regarded literary questions as exigent and momentous”. Requiring precise accuracy.
“became more exigent over his pronunciation”.
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blabbing – blabbering – Divulge confidential information or secrets. Speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly. gabbling.
maundering. prating. clacking. gibbering. palavering. peaching. piffling, Piffle, prattling.
tattling – Prone to communicate confidential information. Speak (about unimportant matters) rapidly and incessantly.
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inveigling – Influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering. blarneying.
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wheedling – The act of urging by means of teasing or flattery.
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harridan – A scolding (even vicious) old woman. nagger.
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vicious – (of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or suffering. “vicious kicks”. Having the nature of vice.
Bringing or deserving severe rebuke or censure. Marked by deep ill will; deliberately harmful. “vicious gossip”.
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uxorious – Foolishly fond of or submissive to your wife.
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huffy – Quick to take offence. Roused to anger. “stayed huffy a good while”.
hollering – A very loud utterance (like the sound of an animal). Utter a sudden loud cry.
beefing – Complain. grousing. squawking. Utter a harsh abrupt scream. skreighing. screaking. whining. yawping. yammering. wrawling. yowling.
scheming – Concealing crafty designs for advancing your own interest. “a scheming wife”; “a scheming gold digger”.
Scheme – Form intrigues (for) in an underhand manner.
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A truthful summary of huffy women is given at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIpmML49hMU
The best site to prepare for GRE, SAT, GMAT, TOEFL, IB, English skmclasses. Learn tough, rare words by reading short stories.
All short stories free for you.
Top 10 rare words, Top 10 adjectives for women, Top 10 rare words are tiny compared to
Top 100 rare words, Top 100 adjectives for women, Top 100 rare words;
or say Top 1000 rare words, Top 1000 adjectives for women, Top 1000 rare words. You get all of these here.
You also have top useful words, most obscure words …. etc.
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