THANE: Holi is one of the biggest festivals in the country and is celebrate with great fanfare across the country. However, many people gave Holi a skip last year due to water shortage, but are all gung-ho to splash water this year and are already making plans.
From buying small water pumps for a sum of Rs 10 to Rs 100 to buying the gigantic cartoon shaped water guns that cost up to around Rs 800 children and youth are flocking to city markets to buy a variety of water weaponry this year.
Rohan Gadge, a 13-year-old customer at a store at Jambli Naka, said, “Last time our school told us not to play Holi with water because of water shortage. We didn’t play at home, but later realised that all our friends played. Since we missed out on all the fun we asked our parents for a little more money and bought bigger water guns this year. We bought some colour too.” Over the past one week we have sold hundreds of such water guns for Holi. While many prefer the mid-sized water guns in the shape of popular cartoon characters and the latest hand-pump models, quite a few have purchased the larger ones as well. The water blasters are selling like hot cakes like every year,” said Abu Menon, a store owner at Thane Mohommad Ali Road area.
While the demand for these water guns has been on a steady rise one week before the festival of colours so has the popularity of eco-friendly colours.
“We went for a workshop last year where we learnt how to make eco-friendly colours for Holi. However, as the materials are not easily available and we don’t even have much time to make it in large quantities we decided to buy natural colours this year,” said Ashwini Joshi, a Pachpakhadi resident.
“Nearly 90 percent of the people buying Holi colours and gulal this year have specifically asked if we keep eco-friendly and herbal colours. Dry colours that just dust off and don’t need washing are also in demand,” said Vinit Ravaria, shop owner