Going the eco-friendly route has been my endeavour for the last few years. I will say I have just begun nonetheless, it’s my resolution to give my best effort.
Nature always gives us 200%, it’s time we realize the love and care it gives us and value it. This Ganesh festival I decided to take a bigger step to go completely green, it has been on my mind for the last 2-3 years however due to some reason I wasn’t able to do it. Better late than Never!
We booked our Tree Ganesha on 20th June, pretty early. That gave us a boost by taking the first step. For the decoration, I wanted to nestle my Gannu Bappa in his home – the Kailash Parvat. I kept on thinking about all the eco-friendly stuff as I did not want to use anything which can’t be recycled/reused/reduced into nature. I have had some sleepless nights in my research, not to forget some high-stress levels too. 😉
The decoration process began by using the cardboard boxes received from online stuff brought. I had been collecting it for the last 2-3 months. I removed all the plastic tapes and used paper tapes instead. Newspapers were being used as the fillers. The base was a cardboard paper. And the first by-product looked something like this.
Next, we starched an old dhoti using rice powder and kept it on the hill structure we had prepared. We took a strainer and used shadu powder (grey effect), hibiscus powder (red effect) and Indigo powder (green effect). After drying it gave a natural mountain look and our Kailash Parvat was ready giving a natural demeanor with minimal stuff.
I had a terracotta plate which has been used to give a pond effect. I used Blue tea for the blue coloured water instead of using some colour. Tree Ganesha came in a packaging which had paper shreds which we reused as a base. Everything was covered with paper tape. Hisbiscus powder was used to give the earth appearance along with Indigo powder for the green natural look. Trees were made from cardboard using the same powders and paper flowers. Smaller plants were paper cutouts. Natural flowers were used for decorating the Moorti. For the background, we used cloth which was used which gave a sky type of expression.
The Final Decoration looked something like this –
The entrance was decorated using Urli and flowers.
The Moorti Sthapana.
Visarjan took place at home the next day. When I saw my Gannu Bappa turning back into earth I had a lot of emotions. The breaking of parts of Bappa in front of my eyes put forth some questions –
❓ When we use POP Moortis we do the visarjan and forget about it, have you wondered what is the impact it has on the environment?
❓ The Moorti pieces which come ashore you throw it and treat it badly, the Moorti in front of which we prayed for 11 days, aren’t we hypocrites?
❓ We spend so much money on decoration again to create a waste which will harm nature, is it right?
We all read and forget about it. Spend some time at the Visarjan place, see what happens next maybe you will see the reality.
Ganpati is the time to be with God and spend time with him. Introspect what are we doing in the garb of a festival.
Let’s create a healthy and safe environment for us and our future generations. Let’s take some steps to bring change and protect our environment.
Let’s BE the CHANGE!
Wow!! This is so AMAZING! I completely agree with you, WE need to be the change and practice it at home. Infact, my family also went green this year and I realised that we are placing some great values in our children through these actions. Well done Mahek! Kudos to you and your family! Keep writing such informative posts. #MyFriendAlexa #DiaryOfAnInsaneWriter