Omkar, 50 kids & eco - friendly Ganeshas

“Indian Tigers on the brink of extinction

Delhi declared one of the most polluted cities by WHO

Farmer suicide on the rise as Marathwada reels under severe drought”

We read these headlines in our papers everyday, but we rarely invest the time to study & understand the details & its implications.

Environment is a complicated topic and the ways in which its wrath can impact our lives is unpredictable, disruptive, life changing …..

We cannot singlehandedly save our environement but the least we can do is to study & know basic facts & do our little bit to make a difference.

Today our friend Omkar helped us do this ……so firstly who is Omkar?

1. ·      Omkar lives in a 8 * 10 square feet home in Kumbharwada
2. ·      His father sells clay items and earns a monthly income of 5000
3. ·      Through financial support of various well wishers, Omkar is in 12^th studying Commerce at Nutan Marathi Vidyalaya School in Pune
4. ·      Manisha Gutman of environment social enterprise “eCoexist” introduced him to me. Manisha has trained Omkar to make the most beautiful Ganesh idols out of natural clay (please visit the website of eCoexist and support the amazing work she is doing)
5. ·      It takes Omkar one week to make one idol

50 children & several parents along with Omkar gathered at my home to paint these eco friendly Ganeshas. This is our 4^th year of doing this activity!

We painted, decorated, put lovely “mukuts (turbans)”on our dear Ganesha, enjoyed some lovely chocolate modaks made by Prabha Aunty (Founder of Pure Gold chocolates, check out her Facebook page) and spent time chatting with Omkar. We all discussed and learned about threats to environment such as climate change, deforestation, species extinction and pollution. Doing is Learning. Through this activity our kids learned how it is important to use eco friendly material  (shaadu) for our idols and not plaster of paris, how plaster of paris causes enormous damage to our rivers. Some learning, some inspiration and lots of fun with friends, a perfect way to welcome our dear Lord Ganesha!! Thank you Omkar & Manisha.

Today was not some earth shattering (or should I say earth saving) significant movement ……just a small step in the right direction, but here I would like to quote a philanthropist I respect….

Anshu Gupta, founder of Delhi based ngo Goonj (collects urban discard & uses towards livelihood generation and development) won the Magsaysay award in July this year. In his acceptance speech he said “we don’t aspire to change the world, we are ordinary people, we want to improve it in little ways first…”