Modern Issues On Holi

Modern issues

 Synthetic colors

A young man celebrating Holi

As the spring-blossoming trees that once supplied the colors used to celebrate Holi have become more rare, chemically produced industrial dyes have been used to take their place in almost all of urban India. In 2001, a fact sheet was published by the groups Toxics link and Vatavaran based in Delhi on the chemical dyes used in the festival. They found safety issues with all three forms in which the Holi colors are produced: pastes, dry colors and water colors.
Their investigation found some toxic chemicals with some potentially severe health impacts. The black powders were found to contain lead oxide which can result in renal failure. Two colors were found to be carcinogenic: silver, with aluminium bromide, and red, with mercury sulphide. The prussian blue used in the blue powder has been associated with contact dermatitis, while the copper sulphate in the green has been documented to cause eye allergiese, puffiness of the eyes, or temporary blindness.

A Natural Holi in Pune, an alternative to synthetic colors

The colorant used in the dry colors, also called gulals, was found to be toxic, with heavy metals causing asthma, skin diseases and temporary blindness. Both of the commonly used bases—asbestos or silica—are associated with health issues.
They reported that the wet colors might lead to skin discolouration and dermatitis due to their use of color concentrate gentian violet.
Lack of control over the quality and content of these colours is a problem, as they are frequently sold by vendors who do not know their origin.
The report galvanized a number of groups into promoting more natural celebrations of Holi. Development Alternatives, Delhi and Kalpavriksh, Pune, The CLEAN India campaign and Society for Child Development, through its Avacayam Cooperative Campaign  have both launched campaigns to help children learn to make their own colours for Holi from safer, natural ingredients. Meanwhile, some commercial companies such as the National Botanical Research Institute have begun to market "herbal" dyes, though these are substantially more expensive than the dangerous alternatives. However, it may be noted that many parts of rural India have always resorted to natural colours (and other parts of festivities more than colours) due to availability reasons.

 Environmental impact

An alleged environmental issue related to the celebration of Holi is the traditional Holika Dahan bonfire, which is believed to contribute to deforestation. A local tabloid had a view published that 30,000 bonfires each burning approximately 100 kg of wood are lit in one season. Several methods of preventing this consumption of wood have been proposed, including the replacement of wood with waste material or lighting of a single fire per community, rather than multiple smaller fires. However, the idea of lighting waste material antagonizes large sections of a certain community who take it as a Western attack to their cultures and traditions citing several examples of similar festivities elsewhere. There is also concern about the large scale wastage of water and water-pollution due to synthetic colors during Holi celebration.

 Influence on popular culture

In the music video for their song "The Catalyst.", American rock band Linkin Park incorporated scenes of band members throwing powdered color at one another. The videos director, band turntablist Joe Hahn, identifies Holi as a direct influence on the visual style of the video. Hahn states that "The irony of making the video was that the inspiration for the colors came from the Color Festival in India called Holi." Mr Hahn further elaborates on the religious significance of the colors, "People collect these pigments throughout the year to release them in this festival as a celebration of life and tribute to Vishnu."
The holi festival was featured as a RoadBlock challenge in the popular CBS reality television show The Amazing Race 13, episode 7.
The Ke$ha music video for the song "Take It Off" features powdered colored dyes similar to those used to celebrate Holi.
On May 31, 2007, the independent film, Outsourced, premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival. The plot of the film details the story of Todd Anderson, an American call center novelty products salesman (Josh Hamilton) as he heads to India to train his replacement after his entire department is outsourced to a new, much cheaper call center in Gharapuri, India. Todd soon discovers that in order to successfully train his new charges, he must first learn about the culture of the workers. Among the many customs and traditions Todd encounters in his education of India is the celebration of Holi. The film beautifully captures the spirit of joy and playfulness that surrounds this colorful celebration of life and the onset of Spring.
The March 17th, 2011 episode of the NBC series based on the film of the same name, Outsourced, entitled "Todd's Holi War", takes a more sitcom-oriented approach to the holiday, marking Holi's first appearance on American network television.