a TrUly INDIA: 2010

A step towards an echo friendly Lord Ganesh Chaturthi.........

Ganesh Chaturthi, the most awaited festival of Hindus. Every year in India the Ganesh Chaturthi festival celebrated on large volume. It starts on the "Shukla Chaturthi" (fourth day of waxing moon) in the month of "Bhadrapada". All hindu devotee eagerly awaits for this time for the most loved god, Ganesh to grace them, their families and their homes. Ganesh Chaturthi is one of those festivals which bring not only Hindus but all religions together. This calibration ends with immersion of the lord Ganesha Idol in a body of water and hopping the next year the lord Ganesha will come again.

Does this story ends here??????

No...........

After immersion of idol, what happens with the idol? What happens to the leftovers?

Dose it fully gets dissolved? Does it harm the water body or the creatures in water? Is it really affecting the nature?? Does the material which is used to make the idol are dissolvable?? So on and so forth.... These are the questions not just needs to be answered but to be solved

In olden times the material used to make idols was "Shadu" clay. Which is easily dissolvable material and harmless. But over the years the material used in making is changed from clay to POP, plaster of parries which is lighter and most importantly the cheaper material. Colors used to paint idols contain element such as mercury, cadmium, arsenic, lead, and carbon. The decorative material used is made up of plastic and thermocol which are not biodegradable. Such non-biodegradable materials when immersed in water become toxic. And on top of all this unlike the olden times the idols are no more in small sizes but for the sake of competitions the idols are becoming huge in sizes.

More about the material used in making the idols and their side effects

Plaster of Parries: Plaster of Paris is a type of building material based on calcium sulphate hemihydrate.

Effects on Humans
>> The chemical reaction that occurs when plaster is mixed with water is exothermic in nature and can therefore cause severe burns.
>> Some variations of plaster that contain powdered silica or asbestos may present health hazards if inhaled.
>> Inhaled silica can cause silicosis and (in very rare cases) can encourage the development of cancer.
>> The polluted water can cause health problems
>> refer : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaster
Effects on fish:
>> The toxic waste of Plaster of parries kills water plant and animal life in the water.
>> In Mumbai, for instance, dead fish washed ashore after the immersion is a common occurrence.

Plastic and thermocol

Due to the non-biodegradable nature the waste keep on adding and thus can result into water logging

Thus we are celebrating the festival at the cost of not only our life but also the animals, fish, nature. Is it good things to do? Are we doing proper thing? Is there any solution of this problem…..

And the solution is “Echo Friendly Ganesh Idols”

The ways to do

Avoid the use of Plaster of parries. One can use clay, natural fiber, or even recycled paper
Stop use of plastic and thermocol for decoration purpose
Use of natural colors to paint the idols

There are various organizations provides a mean of environment friendly festival celebration.

A Mumbai based non-governmental organization “The Sadguru Shree Aniruddha Upasana Trust” headed by Dr. Aniruddha Joshi has taken up promising task of environment friendly festival celebration with “Echo Friendly Ganesh Idol”.

How does it operates

The waste paper, or the papers of ram name books are collected in large volume
Shred the paper into small pieces, soak this in water for five to six days which makes it soft and easy to grind
This soft mixture is then grind into mixer and turn into paper pulp. You can use home mixer for this purpose.
This paper pulp is rinsed in water then filtered to remove water from it
This filtered mixture then spread out and dried properly
After which the dried pulp is again put into mixer to get fine powder or cotton like sturcture
The 80% of paper fluff is mixed with 20 % of “Shadu” clay
To make papier mache we need glue. The process of making glue is mix the arrow root powder with cold water and then slowly adds this solution into boiling water. This gum can be prepared once in advance.
Mix the glue mixture with paper fluff and clay to make papier mache
The mold used are of POP and fiber
Make mixture of oil and soap and apply layer of this to the fiberglass mould which helps in easy detached of idol form mould
Fill the mould with paper mesh
The finishing is done when the idols are moist
Due to 80% of paper contain the idols are light in sizes and 20% of clay and gum gives the desired shape and smoothness
The colors used for painting are natural colors except the golden color used for painting the ornaments
These idols dissolved in water in minimum 3 to 4 hours and maximum 8 to 10 hours. To make a note the idols made up of plaster of parries takes more than 2 days means approximately 48 hours to dissolve.
Any sized idols can be made using all this material

Advantages

The paper mache Idols saves the water bodies like the lakes or ponds
Due to use of non-toxic and biodegradable material the animal life in water bodies remains in safe zone
Prevents the water and air pollution

How to Book

This is absolutely advance booking process, minimum of 2 months advance in the booking centres. You can contact on the following address for the same.

Shree Aniruddha Aadesh Pathak
503- Link Apt, khari Village,
S.V. Road Old Khar,
Khar (w), Mumbai - 52.
Phone No: 022-26054474

Gallery

Videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh5LHhBp0KE