How Bengaluru is gearing up for ‘dry Holi’ celebrations amid water crisis?

Though a few places planned to accommodate water for Holi activities earlier, the organizers dropped the plan after the government's direction.

The Holi celebrations in Bengaluru are not going to be the same this year, as the city has been going through a severe water crisis for the past several weeks. The Karnataka government has also imposed a ban on using Cauvery and borewell water for Holi celebrations in large group events and communities. However, the organisers and residents are gearing up to celebrate Holi this year with minimal usage of water.

How Bengaluru is gearing up for ‘dry Holi’ celebrations amid water crisis? (Pixabay)

No rain dances and Pichikaaris

The Holi events where massive crowds celebrate together are ditching rain dances and pichikaari activities from the event itineraries. Though a few places planned to accommodate water for these activities earlier, the organizers dropped the plan after the government's direction.

Isha Rathore, a Holi event organiser in Bengaluru’s Bellandur said, “The water crisis is more serious than we imagined, hence we decided to drop using water from our Holi event. Instead, we introduced something called ‘Phoolo Ka Holi’ where colorful flowers are used to celebrate the festival. We are restricting the usage of artificial colour as well so that minimal water will be used later to clean the colours from skin. It is important to celebrate Holi responsibly amid water crisis.”

The Resident Welfare Associations of many communities also issued restrictions on Holi celebrations in the city. Sulagna Narasimha, a resident from Whitefield’s Kannamangala, said, “Our community has asked us not to give water guns to kids for Holi celebrations. We are getting water on a timely basis, depending on the availability of water tankers. It is also not a good idea to play Holi with water under such circumstances.”

Anwesha Pattnaik, another resident from Sarjapur road said, “Community Holi celebrations are always special. The fun celebrations with water would be missed this year but I find nobody complaining about it. It is a good thing that many people prefer to go for a dry Holi this time.”

What doctors suggest?

However, many skin experts suggest applying coconut oil or moisturizers to the skin before playing dry Holi as it will help further to clean the colour with less amount of water.

A senior dermatologist, Dr Sandesh Kumar C said, “It is important to apply glycerine or ceramide based thick moisturizer to both skin and hair before dry Holi celebrations. Some petroleum jelly around eyes, corners of the nose, behind ears, nails- sensitive areas where colours stick firmly will also help in cleaning off the colours with less amount of water. Usage of organic colours is safer and does the job of cleansing with less effort.”

He also suggested a way to clean colours from skin with less amount of water. “Take a half mug of water and dilute body wash into it before shaking it well. After lather is formed, gently scrub the body part by part using the lather formed. And then wash off the colour once the scrubbing is finished. The process will reduce the necessity of using lots of water,” he rounded off.