Safe and eco-friendly HOLI

Make this Holi a safe and eco- friendly festival by using Natural colours.

Holi festival has an ancient origin and celebrates the triumph of 'good' over 'bad'. The colourful festival bridges the social gap and renews sweet relationship. Traditionally, Holi is a festival that celebrates the return of spring and the colours that people used came from flowering trees. Over the years with the disappearance of some of the tree varieties from urban areas, the natural colours gradually came to be replaced by cheaper industrial dyes.  All these are toxic and can result in anything from skin allergies, eye irritation, blindness and much more. When washed, they enter the rivers and the soil and increase pollution.

Colour	Chemical	Health Effects
Black	Lead Oxide	Renal Failure
Green	Copper Sulphate	Eye allergy, Puffiness and temporary blindness.
Silver	Aluminium Bromide	Carcinogenic
Blue	Prussian Blue	Contact Dermatitis
Red	Mercury Sulphate	Highly toxic and can cause skin cancer

Have you ever wondered how to make the festival of colours natural and healthy for our environment and ourselves?
 Did you know that Holi can be fun and harmless if you play with environment-friendly natural colours?

Make your own colours:

1. Mix Haldi powder with besan for lovely yellow colour.
   
   
2. Slice a beetroot and soak in water for a deep pink.
   
   
3. Boil Marigold or Tesu flowers in water for yellow colour. The other easy way to get a yellow liquid colour is to soak peels of pomegranate overnight.
   
   
4. For an orange red paste, henna ( Mehndi) leaves can be dried, powdered and mixed with water.
   
   
5. Red Sandal Wood Powder/ Raktachandan/ Lalchandan has a beautiful red colour is extremely beneficial for the skin and is used in face packs. This can be used instead of Red Gulal.
   
   
6. The Flame of Forest/ Tesu/ Palash’s flowers can be soaked in water overnight and bright orange colour is obtained.
   
   
7. Boil dried fruits of Amla in an iron vessels and leave overnight. Dilute with water and use.