Colours of HoliHoli is fast approaching.  Every year, since I became a mom (not that long ago :)   )  I make an effort to celebrate Holi with natural colours, to protect my lil’ one from toxic colours.  (Not to mention mother nature!). 

Today I suddenly realised that I need to stock up on colours for my lil’ one’s first real Holi! (Last year he could barely walk and had very few friends, except doting aunties of his locality, to play holi with).  This year for the first time my lil one will be running around with other kids playing holi….

Although sadly I cannot control the colours the other kids use on Holi day, I will try and minimise the damage by using natural colours in our family.  Here’s a quick reckoner on how to make natural colours for holi.  The wet colours are easier to make than dry gulal ( I think :) ).

Wet Colours/ Coloured water:

MAGENTA: slice and dunk 2-3 beetroots in a bucket of water, soak for 2-3 hours.
YELLOW: 2 spoons of turmeric powder in 2 liters of water, boil to increase colour concentration
RED: 2 spoons of Red sandalwood powder boiled in 2 liters of water
Blue: Indigo plant leaves boiled in water

Dry colours:

YELLOW: 2 spoons of turmeric powder in 4 spoons of gram flour (besan) or any other flour (atta)
RED: Red Sandal Wood Powder / Raktachandan
Blue: The Jacaranda flowers can be dried in the shade and ground to obtain a beautiful blue powder

This time Holi weekend brings double celebrations for us.  My lil one turns 2  over the Holi weekend!  Preperations of the lil one’s grand birthday party have overshadowed the Holi event.  Hence I have no time to make the natural colours myself.  So off to the market to buy natural colours.  Check out the listing of shops in major cities of India where you can buy such natural holi colours/gulal.