The city is witnessing a positive trend before Holi as most revellers seem to opt for expensive natural colours to ensure safe celebrations of the festivity
BHUBANESWAR: The festival of colours is inching closer. Revellers are already making a beeline to various colour shops across the city. However, this time most of them seem to opt for organic colours instead of artificial ones.
Holi is one of the most popular festivals in the country. It is celebrated on the first full moon of ‘Phagun’ month of the Hindu calendar. The festivity has many myths surrounding it. One of the popular one is based on Lord Krishna who celebrated his love for Radha rani through a plethora of diverse colours and flowers. Hence, the festival is also known as as Ranga Rass Leela.
Orissa Post interacted with denizens and dermatologists of the capital to delve deeper into the subject. A resident of Patia and make maker of natural colours Sikha Trivedi said, “People should be considerate while playing Holi as it can scar one’s face and even personality. Revellers don’t realise how damaging it can be to one’s skin while playing with synthetic and chemical colours. Hence, I would advice buyers to buy herbal Holi colours which are expensive yet good for skin.”
A student of BJB Shyamli Nayak said, “One should avoid the face in general and eyes in particular while playing with colours. Water colours should be banned as it can cause pneumonia. However, colours produced from natural sources like turmeric and neem can have a healing effect on the body and strengthen the immune system to help us ward off various diseases.”
Doctor Satyabrata Tripathy said, “In ancient days, colours were made from flower paste, sandalwood, herbs and spices like turmeric which had a positive effect on the skin. However, the chemical colours used these days contain heavy metals like lead. This can cause many health hazards like skin allergies, dermatitis, drying and chapping of the skin, skin cancer, rhinitis, asthma and pneumonia.”
According to doctors in the city, blatant use of inexpensive over-the-counter artificial colours which are prepared with the help of chemical solvents and toxic agents like lead oxide, mercury sulphite and copper sulphate can cause minor to severe damage to your skin, eyes, lungs, liver and kidneys.
There are toxic chemicals like lead, copper sulphate, aluminium bromide, zinc, asbestos and mercury (to name a few) that are used to manufacture coloured powders are extremely harmful. They can lead to temporary blindness, asthma, renal problems and in the case of mercury sulphite (used to make the red colour), can cause skin cancer.
A cautious approach can make Holi a hassle-free and joyous occasion. It is best to use home-made or natural colours for everybody but especially for children. Organic colours that are also eco-friendly are safer than any chemical artificial colours.
Parag Agarwal said, “According to Hindu mythology, Hiranyakashipu wanted to kill his own son Prahalad as he was a believer of Lord Bishnu. After, failing to kill Prahlad numerous times, he hired his evil sister Holika to do it. Holika possessed special powers of being immune to fire. She tricked him into sitting with her on a pyre. But due to her evil intentions, her power became ineffective and she was burned to ashes. Hence, the festival is also termed as ‘Holika Dahana’.
