Bhubaneswar: The ‘Swapna Pati Foundation’, will organise the ninth ‘Herbal Holi’ festival March 8 at a city hotel here. The event will start in the evening at 6.30pm. Incidentally, it is also the International Women’s Day.
At a press meet here regarding the event Swapna Pati, chairperson of the organisation said, “Herbal Holi is the most celebrated event of our organisation. Holi means celebrating life with a plethora of colours. However, due to the presence of chemicals in most colours people suffer a lot. That is why we want to promote ‘Herbal Holi’. Here no chemicals are present in the colours and people can play without any fear. With Herbal holi we bring about change in the mind set and also encourage others to stop using chemical colours. The herbal colours are made of fruits and vegetables which is healthy for the skin.”
Swapna said that the colours are made from natural extracts of flowers, vegetables and minerals, petals of rose, marigold, hibiscus and bougainvillea, sandalwood, henna, tesu, turmeric, multani mitti, spinach and indigo. Hence it is healthy for the skin and not harmful at all. So more and more people should use healthy colours, Swapna stated.
The last edition of the programme was attended by Odia cine sensations Sabyasachi Mishra, Babusan and Bhumika Das.
This year, ‘Herbal Holi’ will also be celebrated outside the state. “We will celebrate the festival in Pune with widows and old age people March 10. We aim to expand the initiative in other states and cities,” said Swapna.
PNN