So are you all geared up and started with your shopping? Ganesh Chaturthi, is the next huge festival celebrated in several parts of the country, especially in Maharashtra. However, as much as we enjoy Ganesha festival, it’s no surprise that the land and water bodies suffer high levels of pollution when the idols are immersed in the river. The idols are mostly made of Plaster of Paris and are often decorated with plastic flowers, incense sticks and paint containing lead and mercury, which take years to decompose in lakes and therefore disturb the balance of the environment.
Shouldn’t the responsibility of preserving the environment after the festive season fall upon us? T.V. Sudhakar from Chembur, Mumbai, has taken an initiative to go green this Ganesh Chaturthi by distributing 1000 eco-friendly Ganesh idols to Mumbaikars for free. These are made of clay and are painted with organic colors!
Image Credit: indianexpress.com
While sharing his thoughts about this initiative with HotFridayTalks.com, Mr. Sudhakar says, “I’ve always been a fan of clay Ganapati idols since my childhood, and have never wanted those colorful ones.” He has many reasons for his choice of clay over the other Ganapati idols. First of all, these are environment friendly and are hand-made and secondly, he can immerse the Ganapati idol at home instead of immersing into water bodies and polluting them. “At the RBI quarters, I used to stay just next to the sea. I watched how the idols floated on the water the day after Visarjan and BMC workers would just take the pieces of the idol and throw them into the dustbins. We do the Puja with a lot of devotion, but this way where is our devotion going?” asks Mr. Sudhakar.
So, to put the right spirit to our devotion and protect our environment, Mr. Sudhakar has been looking for a clay Ganapati around Mumbai since 1994, and after a 23 year long search, he has finally found the right person last year (2017) to make clay Ganapati idols for him.
Image Credit: T.V. Sudhakar
“We planned everything by January and started with this initiative since February this year. They are being handmade in Chennai using just clay and no artificial colors. The size of the idols will be between 12-14 inches, with no major decorations or painting on it. I am monitoring the progress every day, and the idols should reach Mumbai by the last week of August” he says.
“Last year I used this Ganapati idol and immersed it in a flowerpot in our house and we are now growing vegetable in that same pot. If every house practices this, we can help out environment a lot.” Mr. Sudhakar says.
A former General Manager at the RBI and current Senior Executive at Kotak Mahindra Bank, T.V. Sudhakar, has won many a Mumbaikar’s heart with his cause, and has already received orders for more than 400 idols. Despite being a busy man, he has taken out a little of his time and effort to save Mother Nature. So, if you wish to get an eco-friendly Ganesh idol for free, you can register here.
We surely need more people like him in our society, who are willing to take small but meaningful steps to create awareness regarding the epidemic of environmental pollution. It’s time that we salute his enterprise and inspire ourselves to work towards the same goal. If he can do it, why not us?
