Rourkela, March 4: While post-Holi incidents make headlines across nations, highligtting toxic effects of the inorganic colours used in the festivity, some elite communities have replaced it with organic & herbal colours.
Similalry, techies of the National Institute of Technology(NIT) Rourkela in Odisha, have celebrated Holi as a ‘Mud Fest’, like the ‘Boryeong’ in South Korea and the ‘Chikhal Kalo’ in Goa.
As a tradition, the national institute on Wednesday celebrated ‘Mud Holi’ on its campus where the festivity of colour turned antic wherein the scholars rather enjoyed clay shringar discarding toxic and inorganic dyes, used by others.
This year holy was yet unique for the NITians as they added some herbal colours and extracts to a pool, full of mud and took dip bath in it.
Instead of sprinkling and polishing synthetic dyes among themselves , students smeared each other with natural hues and splashed around in muddy water, making the festival both safe and enjoyable.
Supporting logisticts for the innovative festivity, the Admin had managed to make the temporary pond filled with muddy clay and portable water.
The tradition, if began some years ago on the NIT campus, inspired the society, especially to the youth community,to rethink about the customs and its socio-cultural effects with the novel touch of knowledge & mass awareness.
According to some NITians, natural clay is enriched with healthy minerals that is beneficial for our bodies in many ways. Multani mitti (Fuller’s earth) is a natural, mineral-rich clay that deep cleanses skin by absorbing excess oil, dirt, and sweat, making it ideal for treating acne, reducing blackheads, and soothing inflammation. It boosts circulation, tightens pores, reduces pigmentation, and acts as a cooling agent for sunburns. It acts as a powerful absorbent to draw out excess sebum from oily skin, reducing acne breakouts, pimples, blackheads, and whiteheads.
The ‘Boryeong’ in South Korea and the ‘Chikhal Kalo’ in Goa, are celebrated in muddy-ponds due to nourish the skin, and to prevent some uncommon skin diseases.Apart from it, most of the herbal medicines prescribed in Indian Ayurveda contains red-soil as one of the ,most essential ingredients. It’s why, most of the renowned organic cosmetic manufacturing companies, in some products,are using soil and clay for better therapeutic effects, a techie said.
