Holi 2019: Viral photo series shows how organic colours are made with utmost care and patience

Holi is here and there has been a surge in the demand for organic or natural colours. Holi revellers are ditching synthetic colours for organic fragrance-free gulal that is easy on skin and eyes and is far environment-friendly.

But have you ever wondered how painstaking it is to produce these organic colours? 

Here are a series of photographs posted by iPhone, Apple that gives you an idea of how the organic gulal is made from natural ingredients like flowers, leaves, fruit peels and much more.

The post shows a group of women living in a small village outside Udaipur making these colours to keep the festival safe and eco-friendly. Their work ensures traditional methods of creating these vibrant powders from delicate flowers, fruits and trees are preserved.

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Commissioned by Apple. "Holi is both the celebration of the colors that nature provides and the women from Udaipur who bring it to life. Their preservation of the traditional methods — creating these vibrant powders from delicate flowers, fruits and trees — is truly something to cherish.” #ShotoniPhone by Indrajit K. @indrajitkhambe

A post shared by apple (@apple) on Mar 20, 2019 at 6:44am PDT

 

While colours like yellow are made from turmeric plants that have antiseptic properties and are great at correcting uneven skin tone, the popular orange colour is made using dried marigolds and flame of the forest (palash)that is found only during the spring season and have a very short shelf life.

For pink, the women use roses and throw in some beetroot extracts if a darker shade is needed.

Every morning, these women harvest flowers and plants to extract their pigment in traditional away. the colours are preservative free. The grainy texture of the gulal is made by mixing liquid colour with rice flour and set out in the shed to dry. The tedious and meticulous process takes days and lots of effort.

The entire series was shot by Indrajit Khambe and shot on an iPhone.