noida two years on vendors selling holi colours have a bustling market to cheer aboutthey say people have missed celebrating the festival due to the pandemic and this is the first march since 2020 that the outbreak is under control this time of the yeari am a driver by profession but during the holi festival i sell colours hardly any customers visited my stall in the last two years but the sales are better this time says ram kalesh a vendor of indira market in noidas sector 27pappu sitting in his shop in sector 15 too has suffered but people have missed holi these last few years we think the sales will double this time because covid19 cases have declined he saysthe 35yearold sells food grains for most of the year and pivots to selling organic holi colours these he says are made by his family members at their ghaziabad house with the use of arrowroot a root vegetablemy whole family including my wife and parents help in the process we expect this holi to be special he saysfor others like 70yearold rina devi the colours must be brought from mathura the uttar pradesh town that famously hosts grand holi celebrations sitting on the road on a flimsy cloth for a seat she proudly says that she brought the colours from her hometownthese are all handmade colors my husband is also selling these colors in the sector 18 market this time our sales have doubled so many customers are visiting and a few of them are coming again as they like our colours she saysit isnt all that different for companies that manufacture and sell the colours kartikey garg of the popular cock brand says the company got 3040 fewer orders than they normally would in the last two years they have an extra demand of about 4050 this yearwe have around 3040 fully automotive gulal colours plants but then also we are not able to supply the extra demand this is because after 2 years of pandemic people have got the opportunity to celebrate holi once again the companys executive director says his companys major market is in delhi national capital region up haryana and rajasthan residents in noida too are preparing for community celebrations rajiva singh president of the noida federation of apartment owners associations says condominium residents this year seem to be all set to celebrate holi like in the prepandemic days though a few of them are still a little skeptical about covid lingering most are organising community gatheringsrajeev sharma the rwa president of c block in sector62 also appears to be upbeat on the 18th all society residents will come together to celebrate the festival there will be drums there will be music and a grand celebrationto be sure experts say the pandemic isnt over and people should be mindful of attending gatherings in 2021 there were several incidents of huge congregations across areas despite a devastating second wave of infections in the country