Mujhe rang de, rang de!

Holi is the festival of colours, so why spoil it with chemicals. This Holi let's play with natural home made colours to make the day a memorable one.

Here are ways to make natural colours

Ever Greens
Dry: Use mehendi / henna powder, separately or mix with equal quantity of any suitable flour to attain a lovely green shade. Use only pure mehendi and not the one mixed with amla (meant to be applied to our hair) as this would be brown in colour.

Dry mehendi will not leave colour on your face as it can be easily brushed off. Only when it is a paste (i.e. it is mixed in water) will it leave a slight colour on your face. Thus, it can be used as a pucca / fast colour. Many people like smearing other person’s hair with colours. How about doing it with mehendi powder and saving a trip to the parlour?

Dry and finely powder the leaves of Gulmohur (Delonix regia) tree for a green. Crush the tender leaves of the Wheat plant to obtain a natural safe green Holi colour.

Wet: Mix two teaspoons of mehendi in one litre of water. Stir well.
Green colour can also be obtained by mixing a fine paste of leaves like spinach / palak, coriander / dhaniya, mint / pudina, tomatoe leaves, etc. in water.

Sunny Yellows
Dry: Mix two teaspoons of haldi / Turmeric powder with double quantity of besan (gram flour). Haldi and besan are extremely healthy for our skin, and are also used widely as a ubtan while taking bath. You can use the ordinary haldi or "kasturi" haldi which is very fragrant and has enhanced therapeutic effects. Besan can be substituted by atta, maida, rice flour, arrowroot powder, fuller’s earth /multani mitti and even talcum powder.

Wet: Add one teaspoon of haldi to two litres of water and stir well. This can be boiled to increase the concentration of colour and further diluted.
Soak Amaltas (Cassia fistula) or Marigold / Gainda (Tagetus erecta) flowers in water. Boil and leave overnight.

Resplendent Reds
Dry: Red Sandal Wood Powder / Raktachandan / Lalchandan (Pterocarpus santalinus) has a beautiful red colour, is extremely beneficial for the skin and is used in face packs, etc. This can be used instead of Red Gulal. Dry red hibiscus flowers in shade and powder to make a lovely red colour. To increase the bulk add any flour to it

Sinduria, called Annato in English has a water chestnut shaped fruit which contains lovely brick colour red seeds. These yield both dry and wet colours.

Wet: Put 2 teaspoons of Red Sandal wood powder in a litre of water and boil. Dilute and use. Peels of Red Pomegranate boiled in water give red.

Beautiful Blues
Dry: The Jacaranda flowers can be dried in the shade and ground to obtain a beautiful blue powder. The flowers bloom in summers.
The blue Hibiscus which is found in Kerala can be dried and powdered just like the red hibiscus

Wet: Crush the berries (fruits) of the Indigo plant and add to water for desired colour strength. In some Indigo species the leaves when boiled in water yield a rich blue.

Back To Blacks
Wet: Boil dried fruits of Amla / Indian Gooseberry in an iron vessel and leave overnight. Dilute with water and use. Extract juice of black grapes and dilute with sufficient quantity of water to remove stickiness.