Coronavirus dampens colours of Holi

PUNE: With Holi round the corner, the city markets have been decorated with colourful abeer, pichkaris and colours. However, the stock and varieties for pichkaris were hit as supplies from China have dwindled due to coronavirus pandemic.

“This year, there are fewer varieties and quantity of pichkaris available as the supply from China got hit due to coronavirus outbreak. The supply from China was steady until December 2019. Since then, there has been hardly any supply due to coronavirus. It has affected the supply by 20 to 25 per cent,” said Amit Dayma, Vijayshree Marketing in Raviwar Peth.

“The demand is similar as compared to last year. However, due to coronavirus, big parties may get affected as people will prefer celebrating Holi in small gatherings. We hope that this year, demand will be good as there was good rainfall,” added DaymaIbrahim Tinwala, the owner of Abbas Hardware and Paints, also echoed the same sentiment and said, “Supply has been affected by 20 to 25 per cent due to coronavirus in China. At present, we have those supplies which came before the virus outbreak. However, the demand is average and we hope that there will be more demand on weekends.”

Eco-friendly Holi
“People prefer to play eco-friendly Holi as they want to play with only organic colours for the past few years. Therefore, we prefer selling only organic colours and abeer. In pichkaris, tankers are very much in demand while magic balls, which are balloons, can be directly filled from a tap, are also in demand,” added Dayma.

“Nowadays, people are aware and they want to play with organic colours. Therefore, for the last two-three years, these kinds of colours are more in demand. This time also, there is a similar demand for organic colours. Tankers in pichkaris are more popular among children. Magic balls are also in demand,” said Manoranjan Khurana, Maharashtra Traders.

“We prefer playing eco-friendly Holi in our society, where we use herbal and organic colours and avoid using bottles. This year also, we will follow the same tradition with minimum use of water,” said Maithali Manakawad, resident of Windsor Avenue, Wanawadi.