Holi Awareness

Awareness on Holi
The Bhavishya purana narrate a story in context of this festival as follows Ademoness invaded a village and started harassing little children. Hence the people obscenely abused and cursed her, they lit a fire everywhere to frighten her and drove her away. At home we respect, care and protect all our plants and trees and in the vicinity around us we pretend to ignore and over look the ones destroying them. A standing example is the on set of this tree wood burning (BON FIRE) festival and with it burning the hard labor of planting and caring for trees all year round. The felling has already begun and by the onset of HOLI these living silent trees will appear bald, disfigured and finally disappear. Who is to be blamed for all this act of taken for granted attitude that is going on making us silent spectators? Are our brothers and sisters who celebrate holi the only culprits of this, the authorities, or we the citizens? Who ever may be responsible, but the accusing finger points to us in the first place and then to the authorities who are waiting for the pyre to be lit of our beloved TREES who CRY UN-HOLY lament at the on approaching FESTIVAL of HOLI. Are the sleeping authorities defeating the TREE AUTHORITY and DIFFERENT MAHANAGAR PALIKAs efforts of growing more trees of a clean and green culture. Book these culprits with a hefty fine or make them plant ample trees as a punishment by setting a trend of no toying with the law. The authorities should make it a point to visit these holi pyres a day before and question and cross verify proof of purchase of wood. All this needs to be taken in the right spirits of celebrating this Indian Spring Festival of HOLI in its true spirit of its originality and spirituality sparing TREES which possess life.

Awareness on Eco-friendly Holi To avoid environmental deterioration due to Holi / Rangapanchami some things should be taken into account while celebrating it.

*Do not cut green trees to burn in fire/ Holi. *Collect dead wood and leaves for burning *Bonfire would be of small in size. *Organize one symbolic community fire, rather than several smaller bonfires across the city as a way to reduce pollution and deforestation. *Use combustible waste material rather than wood like coconut coir, saw dust, or agricultural waste like dry grass, wheat straw etc. *Celebrate holi as a Dry Holi to avoid wastage of water. *To make aware people about environmental impacts of celebrating holi by traditional way and encourage people to celebrate it in an Eco friendly manner. *Avoid use of chemically produced colour powders and pastes to prevent health hazard & environmental degradation. *The safest alternative is the herbal dye. *These dyes have turmeric and other floral and herbal extracts that act as antioxidants and are ultimately beneficial to the skin. *Also, these are eco-friendly and do not harm the environment. *Further, this herbal colour does not cause any irritation, skin allergies, respiratory problems or damage to your vital organs. *When these colours are mixed with the soil and water they do not add toxicity to them, therefore it doesnt harm the myriad life forms that live in the soil and water.

*By this we can bring back in large quantities the diverse plants and trees that give us these colours. *In the Holi fire, all kinds of material other than the organic ones and those that cause harm, such as plastics, tyre tubes should be avoided as it gives rise to air pollution. *To teach children in schools preparation of their own Holi colors from natural and safe ingredients like beetroot rose petals, flowers, spinach and turmeric. *By Playing Holi the Vedic Way by using safe, natural colors, we not only save our skins but also help save our environment and conserve our biodiversity.

American novelist, Chuck Palanhiuk said, When did the future switch from being a promise to being a threat? Simple words with a lot to think about. One of the major threats that we face today is that of global warming. It is not entirely possible to reverse the damage that has already been done but we can do our best to preserve what we have. It is our responsibility to provide a cleaner and greener world for the generations to come. The Rockshield Club Kalyan, as a part of its heal the earth together programme is promoting and celebrating a non-toxic and eco-friendly holi. For this, we are using Rang Dulaar Natural Holi Colours, which are made on a base of turmeric and contain no chemical content. Additionally, these colours, include an element of recycled flowers collected from the nirmalya which is produced during Ganesh Chaturthi. Colours that are commercially available are usually industrial dyes that are not meant for human use. These contain toxic heavy metals that can cause serious health problems. Rang Dulaar colours are completely non-toxic, totally non polluting and wash off easily. They are available in five colours, red, yellow, orange, green and black. They are soft to touch and carry an aroma of turmeric. rs.400 per kg, rs.100 per 250g and rs.20 for 50g.

Rang Dulaar is a product of e-Coexist, a social enterprise that promotes natural and recycled products. The Rockshield Club Kalyan is supporting their efforts and aims at making these colours a household name. The colours are being made available to you at the original cost itself. We do not have any mark-up on the price of the product. We urge you to join in our efforts to save the planet and enjoy a safe holi!