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Trisha Srivastava



Mujhe rang de, rang de!

Mica, copper sulphate, lead oxide, aluminium bromide, mercury suphite se rang de! For these are the toxic and synthetic substitutes that spurt from every nukkad's pichkari today.

Whether it is a paste, dry powder or watercolours, they are all full of "rogue chemicals" and hazardous by themselves. The risk increases when oil is applied and then these chemicals sneak into the body.

This study conducted by two Delhi based NGOs, Toxics Link and Vatavaran mentions bronchial asthma, dermatitis, skin cancer, eye allergies, temporary blindness as some of the possible after effects of using the black, green, silver, red and Prussian Blue colours available.

But Navdanya gives you another option, for Holi was never about violence towards self and nature….

Ek rahin Abir, ek rahin Gulal

The festival of phagun, is about welcoming rituraj, spring, the king of all seasons! Earlier, villages celebrated their toil by harvesting wheat and other rabi crops post-winter and thanked nature profusely by creating the festive riot through homemade abir and gulal. The coloured powders used were made from flowers, roots and herbs. These colours worked as softeners for the winter dried skin, were therapeutic and even sacred!

This agrarian tradition also metamorphosed into song sessions, hasya sammelans, gujiya making and bhang thandai sessions, expressions of the uncontrollable abandon that comes from meshing the human spirit with nature's open arms.

Holi was a day that reminded one that the good (Prahlad) comes away unscathed in the bonfire of Holika (Evil).

A non toxic Holi

Navdanya, a leading biodiversity conservation organization established by renowned environmentalist Dr Vandana Shiva, has renewed its previous campaign to promote a 'natural' and non-toxic holi with the support from the Department of Environment, NCT, Delhi. The organization won the patent battle over Neem and turmeric against the U.S.A.

The event last year was greeted enthusiastically by all nature lovers and this year, it was decided to take the campaign to the most enthusiastic holi revelers- children - by giving them free demonstrations of preparing natural colours at home.

These colours can be prepared from flowers like rhododendron (buransh), flame of the forest (palash or tesu), hibuscus, bela and marigold; leaves as henna, spinach and Gulmohar and rhizomes like our good old turmeric (haldi).

Methods for preparing these are given in Navdanya's colourful booklet- Abir

Do it yourself

You could take Flame of the Forest (Butea monosperma), in other words, Tesu (Palash) that is flowering right now and dry the flowers (Pick fallen ones!).

The dried flowers can be powdered to obtain dry colour or you could soak them overnight in water to obtain yellow coloured water. Did you know that this versatile tree is used in an incredible variety of ways across the country as it is? Its leaves are used for making platters, dried leaves as beedi wrappers. Young shoots yield a fibre used for ropes. The root bark gives off a coarse fibre used for cordage and caulking boats. The bark astringent is used for tumours, menstrual disorders and plies!

Rang de, rang de, is desh ki biodiversity se!

Here's to a colourful safe Holi!

   
   
© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2004.
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