Yellow is one of the most popular colors
thrown during Holi.
At this factory in India,
hundreds of pounds of this yellow powder called gulal
are laid out in the sun to dry.
Most of the world's gulal comes
from the northern city of Hathras.
You just imagine life without colors.
Imagine life in black and white. It's so boring.
Colors give you pop.
Here, Radha Kishan Color World
produces 2,000 tons of gulal annually.
We went inside one of the largest manufacturers
to see how it's preparing for its first Holi during the pandemic.
This is Ratan Bihari Agrawal.
He's a bit of a color connoisseur.
He and his family
have run the company for four generations.
In Hathras, Holi powder production
brings in more than 30 crore rupees,
or over $4 million each year.
There are over a dozen gulal-making factories
in the city alone.
At Radha Kishan Color World,
gulal production hits its stride in November
after Diwali, India's largest festival.
This massive facility with almost 100 employees
has five main areas:
a room for packaging,
one for the handmade processing,
plus a command center and storage unit.
And a mile away are the gulal drying fields.
The company makes both handmade
and machine-processed gulal
to keep up with demand.
The first part of the process
always starts with a starch mixture.
Corn starch is the base for the color powder.
Starch is used instead of common bases like talcum
because it's less toxic and much lighter.
The starch is hand-mixed with water
until it's totally blended.
The color dye is added next.
Every color tells a story, you know.
Red stands for love, blue is for royalty,
pink is for caring, yellow, happiness.
Then the mixture goes through a grinder
before it's baked in the sunlight.
While that's an important step,
the city in Uttar Pradesh is prone to rain
and even monsoons, which affects when the gulal is dried.
On top of that, the powder production coincides
with the region's farming season.
Both factors play a role in how much gulal
can be produced before Holi.
So Ratan and his brother invested
in a mechanized gulal-making process.
The company also has an herbal line
made with organic dyes.
Ratan also makes toys for Holi
to help spread the gulal.
They are lot of types of
gulal extinguishers, double extinguishers,
small gulal containers, snow sprays.
They make over 260 different gadgets.
Another popular toy is the compression gadget.
It's filled with gulal, and once squeezed,
releases a fine mist of powder.
The Cock Brand sells most of its products
straight to businesses, but many gadgets like these
can be found at the Hathras color market.
Open year-round, it's one of the largest Holi markets in the world.
And Hathras is the gulal hub
because it's close to the Braj region,
where Holi celebrations last as long as two weeks.
The tradition can be traced back
to several Hindu legends about Lord Krishna.
When Lord Krishna and Radharani
played Holi with each other,
they show the emotion of love and compassion
with each other and in life.
Depending on the region,
Holi can be a multiday festival
or an afternoon celebration.
The first evening is known as Chhoti Holi, or small Holi,
and usually involves a symbolic bonfire.
The second day is when people of all ages
wear white and throw colorful powder at one another.
Hindu temples are also decorated with bright colors,
like this one in Vrindavan,
known for the world's largest Holi celebrations.
According to the Hindu lunar calendar,
Holi generally falls on a full moon
between February and March.
Last year, Holi fell right before the coronavirus
was officially declared a global pandemic.
Gulal producers saw sales decline by almost 10%.
This year, massive crowds of people are celebrating
even as India grapples with another spike.
India reported over 68,000 new coronavirus infections
on March 28,
the highest single-day rise recorded so far this year,
taking the nationwide tally well over 11 million.
So far, five Indian states
have already banned Holi celebrations.
Still, the company has hope
for high returns in 2021.