In orange and green, ‘Modi’ water guns make a big splash this Holi

Pune: After ruling the skies during Makar Sankranti festival, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s likeness is set to hit the ground splashing.
With Holi and Rang Panchami just days away, water guns in orange and green with the tagline ‘I support PM Modi’ are flying off the shelves.

During Makar Sankranti festival in January this year, kites with photographs of the Prime Minister were quite a rage, especially in places like Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Jaipur, and elsewhere. “Squirt guns with Modi’s photographs are the biggest draw this year,” said Sunil Bhavsar, owner of a party supplies store in Bohri Ali. “Priced at Rs 300, these are one of my fastest selling products. I had ten such guns and now I’m left with four,” he said.

Following a close second are “spectacle” water guns, which have emerged as the next “must-haves” for children and adults alike with some sellers claiming that they are selling like the proverbial hot cakes.

In fact with the festival of colours round the corner, the market is flooded with a wide variety of colours, water balloons and water guns between five inches and two feet.

For kiddies, there are fancy squirt guns depicting favourite fictional characters such as Motu Patlu, Minions, Iron Man, Batman and Royal Sisters.

“Not many people opt for traditional pichkari these days. The trend has been towards water guns for the past three-four years. These guns are priced between Rs 20 and Rs 300, depending on the size,” said Bhavsar.

With awareness on social media and several WhatsApp group about harmful effects of chemical-based colours, natural is the colour of choice for most people.

Manisha Jain, owner of a medical store in Raviwar Peth, said that almost 70% of customers now insist on buying natural or herbal colours.

“Though there is a glaring difference in the prices of herbal and chemical based colours, people still prefer buying the former. While a kilogram of chemical-based colour costs around Rs 30, herbal colours come at Rs 300 per kilo,” she said.

Also, available in the market are colours based on intensity. “There are colours with 1000% intensity, these stay for almost a week. Then there are colours with 125% and 250% intensity, which wear off in a day,” Jain added.

However, Lolita Gupta, co-founder of eCoexist, a company that deals with environmental-friendly products, said that the market is flooded with “self-proclaimed” natural colour manufacturing companies. Unfortunately, there is no mechanism to check whether the colours are actually natural.

“People should go through the labels carefully before purchasing them,” said Gupta.

Not for animals

Animals should be kept away from colours which cause various skin allergies. “Provide stray animals with fresh drinking water so that they do not drink from puddles which have colour in them,” said vet Madhavi Awale.