PAU comes up with herbal, organic colours for safe Holi

Tribune News Service

Manav Mander

Ludhiana, February 29

Holi, the festival of colours, is round the corner. Keeping in mind the safety during the festival this year, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has come up with herbal and organic colours.

The Department of Floriculture and Landscaping has prepared herbal colours for the first time. It used rose and marigold to prepare gulal and yellow colour, respectively.

“I was amazed to see these natural colours at the flower show and bought these for the upcoming festival. The method of preparing make these natural colours has also been mentioned on the packet. I will definitely give it a try,” said Rajini, a visitor at the flower exhibition.

“Till now, the department was busy developing varieties of flowers. This time, we prepared gulal and colours using flowers. These colours are chemical-free, natural and safe for skin,” said an expert from the department.

Earlier, natural colours made from flowers, leaves and herbs were used during Holi celebrations. Over the years, these have been replaced with synthetic colours, which contain toxic chemicals. These colours contain heavy metals, acid, alkali, powdered glass, asbestos and chalk pastes. These should be avoided as they are harmful for skin.

Commonly available home ingredients such as arrowroot powder, hena powder, turmeric powder and annatto seeds could be mixed in different proportions to make various shades of colours, said another expert.

Flowers such as marigold, amaltas, tesu, rind of pomegranate and rhizome of turmeric could be used for yellow shade, slice of beetroot for deep pink or magenta, madder and golden drop roots for deep red, henna leaves for green, annatto seeds for orange, jacaranda flowers for blue and rose and dalian could also be used for fragrance.

The gulal was exhibited during the PAU flower show that concluded today. One packet of gulal is available for Rs 50.

Rose, marigold used

The Department of Floriculture and Landscaping has prepared herbal colours for the first time. It used rose and marigold to prepare gulal and yellow colour, respectively.

Safe for skin

This time, we prepared gulal and colours using flowers. These colours are chemical-free, natural and safe for skin. — Expert

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