From petals to powders: Indore's village Sanawadiya turns to nature for Holi hues

A week-long training programme on making natural colours for Holi was launched at the Jimmy McGilligan Centre for Sustainable Development in Sanawadiya village, drawing children, youth and families from four districts.

The programme was led by Janak Didi, director of the centre and a social worker focused on environmental protection. It opened with prayers conducted by Janak Didi and members of the local tribal community. Laxmibai Bhandari and Inder Bhandari attended as chief guests.

Addressing participants, Janak Didi said the objective of the training was to celebrate Holi in a manner rooted in tradition and environmental responsibility. She said the festival, associated with the time of Lord Krishna, has long been linked with nature and sacred trees such as kadamba and parijat. She noted that certain species, including sindoor trees, were becoming rare and required community protection.

“For the past 15 years, I have provided free training in making natural colours for Holi,” she said. “Today I will demonstrate simple methods of preparing colours that I have learnt through living with nature.”

She demonstrated the preparation of liquid and dry colours using bougainvillea, ambadi, palash (tesu), sindoor, parijat, poi and beetroot. Hot water heated in a solar cooker was poured over poi berries to produce a purple solution. Palash flowers yielded a golden-orange extract when mixed with hot water. Parijat and sindoor were used to prepare tilak, and dried bougainvillea, palash and rose petals were processed into gulaal. She also showed how colour could be applied safely by rubbing crushed berries by hand.

Participants said they had earlier used synthetic colours available in markets, which had caused skin and eye irritation. Several children and young people said they would now opt for natural alternatives to avoid health risks and reduce environmental harm.

In their remarks, Inder Bhandari and Laxmibai Bhandari said Sanawadiya was fortunate to have Janak Didi’s guidance. They encouraged villagers to cultivate flowering plants and trees used in preparing natural colours.

Among those present were Devguradia village secretary Manoj Nagar, Mahendra Dhakad, Man Singh Dhakad and his family, Nilesh Chauhan, Vinod Yadav, Ansh, Rudraksh Dhakad, Kapil and his family, and freelance journalist Vyomkesh. They thanked Padmashree awardee Janak Palta McGilligan for her continued community service and for organising the training.