"...why are these not bursting!!!..."

"...𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨!!..." I asked a friend.

"...𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵!!.." he said...

Most of my water balloons were not bursting, instead, they kept bouncing off every surface they were thrown at, just like Flubber.

It was a long awaited Holi in the 1990s & a day prior, mom had bought me a nice pichkari & a few packets of water balloons. I was super excited and I woke up early in the morning to fill all the balloons with water. Now, if you are a kid, filling water balloons can be very tricky & it can try your patience.

𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞: Deciding on how to fill the water. Using a tap or a pichkari? Both had their set of challenges.

𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞: Deciding how much water to fill in each balloon. If you fill too much, they'd either just burst while you are filling them, or when you try to tie the knot or they'd simply give up in the bag where you'd store them with other balloons. If you fill too less, they'd not burst at all & would just bounce around when thrown at others.

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞: The most difficult one, was tieing the knot after you filled the water. It was a herculean task! So my mom & sisters taught me to use threads to just tie up the mouth of the balloons, till the time I learned to actually knot them up with my index finger & thumb (which was like a huge achievement).

If you were to look at the water as "𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲''/''𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬'' or other such intense emotions & the balloon as our mind;

1. It is 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 to be aware of the 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 of the worries/stress. There are taps with unlimited supplies & there are pichkaris that give short bursts of it. We can often control the source/flow of stress. Some stress is good & required.

2. It is 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 to be aware of the 𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 of worry/stress we will allow to enter the mind voluntarily. It is nearly always voluntary. The mind is ours & we choose to fill it with thoughts to achieve the desired state. Too much of it can blow our mind to pieces. Too little can make it bouncy & it will not be able to achieve anything while it keeps bouncing around from one place to another, slowly wearing out due to constant friction. 

3. And finally, it is 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 to know/learn when & how to stop the flow & 𝐭𝐢𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐭 when we feel we have the optimum amount we need or when we know we have hit the maximum amount we can take in. Without a timely & proper knot, we risk leakage,  making the mind less potent & counter-productive.

So knot it up and move on to the next one, and then the next one, and then the next one. Surely, there will be the odd one that will burst or will be bouncy, but it's all good till the time they are just the odd ones in our lives. 

Eventually, over the years, we have been made aware of the perils of using water balloons & they were rightfully banned. 

Here's wishing everyone a safe and fun-filled Holi!