High-spirited carnival

I’m very happy that I will get to celebrate holi for two days continuously this year. My celebrations0 will start off on the sets of the movie aivar, for which I am shooting in Chennai. Later, I will fly to Mumbai and enjoy the festival with my friends.

This Holi is surely an eventful celebration, And I’m not going to be playing dry Holi. I’m sorry, I’m a very responsible citizen of this country and I value resources like electricity and water. but we have already sacrificed crackers during Diwali and I want to really rain dance and play around with pichkaris this Holi.

Indians simply love the colours of Holi. The trend this year is to play safe. Our festivals are not just mere celebrations. They are a fusion of rich heritage, tradition, culture and some fun-filled moments that leave memories for a lifetime.

Colours can treat each one very differently. With the growing trend of celebrating every festival with a natural touch, herbal colours are definitely in. Urvashi Vats, expert at Momspresso expresses, “Distribution of happiness and sweetness in relations through putting colour on each other is the sole purpose of celebrating Holi, but colours available often have chemicals, which are very harmful to the skin. Why not use natural colours to play Holi? So that this festival of colours should really become a festival of happiness.”

Mahesh Babu, actor

It’s all about family

Holi isn’t that big a festival here in Hyderabad, but the kids have a holiday, so it’s usually quality time spent at home with the family. Hope everyone has a fun-filled and safe Holi...we normally just have a small get-together with the kids’ friends at home.

Home-made recipes

Green: With mehendi mix cornflour and you can make a dry green colour. Always remember that gooseberry should not be mixed with mehendi. If you want to make it dark then mix water in it.

Yellow: Turmeric and gram flour can be mixed to prepare yellow. The proportion in of gram flour and turmeric should be 1:2. It can be usually used as a facepack too and makes the skin glow. Instead of gram flour, you can also use talcum powder.

Red: Red sandalwood powder if mixed with dry hibiscus flower makes a beautiful and fragrant colour. For wet red colour boil two spoons of red sandalwood powder in one litre of water.

Pink: Take a beetroot, cut it into slices and grind it and soak it in one litre of water for a night. In the morning boil this water and make it thick.

For Ayurveda expert Dr Partap Chauhan, no country in the world celebrates spring as extravagantly as India does. From Holi to Vasant Utsav to Bihu, the entire nation celebrates spring with great pomp and joy. While you enjoy the festival of colours, make sure that your skin remains protected.

Here are some simple tips.

A day before Holi, apply mustard oil all over the body. Apply generously on face, hands and legs as these are exposed areas to colour. This will not only keep your skin protected, it will also allow you to remove the colours with ease. On your hair apply plenty of coconut oil. This acts as a protecting agent and prevents colours from penetrating deep into the roots.

Alternatively you can also use a lotion. If dry colour gets into your eyes quickly rinse it with water. On the day of Holi keep washing your eyes regularly with water.  Apply some rose water in your eyes. This will relax the eyes.

Use organic colours and in case you observe rashes on your skin, follow these simple tips:

a) If the colour has been applied by rubbing it in, it is best to use face wash instead of soap to remove it. Be gentle while washing as this process can harm your skin.
b) Before going out to play, soak some multani mitti for about an hour. Once you are done, apply the multani mitti on affected areas. This will prevent future rashes too.
c) One good home remedy is to mix gram flour, sweet oil and milk cream in rose water and use the paste on your body.
d) Some colours are prepared from harmful substances like acids, glass and strong chemicals which are hard to remove.
e) A few home remedies will help removing these strong chemicals.
f) Take half a bowl of curd in two spoons of lime juice. Apply it on the areas having colour and take a bath with lukewarm water. Home-made pack is another handy remedy.
g) Avoid scrubbing your skin too hard. The skin gets affected with synthetic colour. Also, avoid going out in the sun after all festivities.

Let’s go organic

Many are divided on whether they want to celebrate the festival or not while some are put off by the quality of the colours. Easy availability of quality or organic colours may help bring back its popularity. Also, social media may be useful to spread the essence of the festival. – Saina Nehwal