Footprints on the Mountainside

I am just back from another ISABS lab. This is the second time I did my ALHP. This event was very special and very different in many ways.

This was a low budget initiative aimed at making ISABS and the T-Group processes accessible to sections of society that cannot afford the high budget programmes that usually happen in resorts and are willing to live in basic comfort.

This was completely different from previous experiences for me. Normally, participants live in comfortable air-con rooms on a twin or triple sharing basis, with separate areas for dining and laboratories. Here, the entire community was accommodated in four dormitories, which also doubled as labs and one of the dormitories was used as the dining room as well.

All through the duration of the community, there was a constant churning of participants among the group. You sleep with some of them, meet different people at meal times, attend your lab groups with still another set of them, prefer some of them for company in the evenings……. a constant shuffle of people you’re with, but no such thing as an isolated space for anyone.

I had been very apprehensive about this lack of space, but got so swept in the flow, that I don’t remember what exactly it was that I had been apprehensive about.

Ok, the food could have been better, the fans could have worked, and small comforts could have been missed by some, but the phenomenal community feeling was….. indescribable. People had just knitted together so close, that we had turned into one big family.

It was also an amazing experience to have such a large representation of people from the NGO sector in the community, and a valuable insight into perspectives we had never really been very close to.

I may write more about this eventually.

Its Ganesh Chaturthi time. This is big happenings near Mumbai and Pune. Everybody and his cousin will install a Ganesh idol in their home on Ganesh Chaturthi and keep it in their homes for worship for durations varying from a day and a half to 21 days. At the end of whatever duration has been selected, the idols are immersed into the sea/river/other water bodies.

It is a time of great worship and cultural value. Hindus believe it to be an honour (to themselves?) to host the God in their home. Even if you don’t follow this practice, you can’t remain unaffected. You will be invited to go and pay your respects in the homes of those you know. A time of meeting people and great joy.

However, there is the dark side of the Ganpati celebrations. The dark side is the utter litter of broken, half dissolved idols marring beaches and shores of all water bodies after these celebrations are done. There is a great pride in creating huge idols, which are invariably of plaster of paris or fibreglass as opposed to the traditional clay idols, which don’t even dissolve away, like they are supposed to.

This Ganesh Chaturthi, I’d like my readers to take the initiative in spreading the word about the damage done to our natural resources through this practice. It is also completely disrespectful to the God you love for so many days in your home to be lying around like garbage once you’re done with your worship.

I have several suggestions I would like to make to Hindus who follow this practice, and I hope they realize that Hinduism is an evolving religion, and knowledge and understanding shaping practices is highly respected, and make an attempt to shift some of the practices to make our environment better. These are inspired by today’s visits to people we respect highly, and you will see why.

This is an idol in the home of Mr Mahesh Atale - an outstanding mallakhamb coach (he was my husband’s coach, when Raka used to perform mallakhamb) and a man with a social conscience. This idol is made of paper mache and painted with eco-friendly paint. When immersed in water, it will dissolve completely within a day - normally, within 8-10 hours. Still, he immerses it in a bucket of water at home.

Another friend and old time guide/teacher is Dr. Milind Chitley. A doctor who is also a mountaineer and Raka’s first employer in the outdoors. Raka worked with him for 8 years and learnt much of what he knows about operating programmes from him. Dokya, as he is fondly called, was not at home, but his parents were, and we had come to pay our respects to the decorated big boss anyway, and he was there.

Dockya has an idol made of silver. It is also immersed in a bucket of water and used again next year. Of course, it doesn’t dissolve, but that is obviously not what we want with a silver idol

A friend of ours, Nikhil Mhapankar, was among those we couldn’t visit due to a shortage of time. He is planning an idol of “panch dhatu”, which is five metals - gold, silver, copper, tin and lead. He is planning to recycle some ancestral silver and gold for this to add sentimental value.

This is an idol in the home of Mr Shrikant Warkhedi - the son of respected sculptor Gururaj Warkhedi and my husband’s maternal uncle. Shrikant mama doesn’t do much sculpting, but makes the Ganesha idol himself without fail each year, like his father used to. This idol is created and used for worship while it is wet. No paints of any kind are used at all, and it is immersed in a bucket of water at home at the end of celebrations and the clay is reused for the next year’s idol.

There are other things people do as well. A chawl in the town area uses an intricate water colour painting on a wall, which is simply washed away. Other practices include reusing fiberglass idols after repainting them, keeping a stone shaped in a way the worshiper finds symbolic of lord Ganesha, and drawing the shape with grain, which is later donated.

Whatever the method, it is different, expressive of caring for the environment and love for the God. I request all readers to promote such ideas among everyone they can. Each year, we have lakhs of idols littering water bodies and devastating the ecology with lead paint and plaster of paris. Every person we can convert toward the protection of God’s creation while engaged in worship is one idol less lying demeaningly on the shore.

I particularly request large public celebrations to adopt eco-friendly practices and become role models for upcoming celebrations. Do it for God’s sake, or environment’s sake, but do it.

Honestly, sometimes I feel like shutting down Wide Aware completely and I would, if that would stop people from “loving” the outdoors so much. But it will not, so the best I can do is to do my bit for the outdoors.

What is this bizarre mood I’m in? Its no bizarre mood. It is looking at some photo albums on the net. Lovely pictures of hill forts in the Sahyadri, with litter in the foreground.

What struck me, is that it is really no shock to find garbage almost anywhere you head out into the outdoors in India. Its like free decoration of the mountainside. Why is it so? Because there are so many people who love the outdoors, that they just have to go there. Apparently, once they have seen the place, its done. The place can go to hell for all they care after that.

You think I’m being anal? Think again. Been to Kondana caves? Why go that far? Been to the National Park? Even with people employed to keep the place clean, the garbage is not under control. The poor playground near the train station is literally swept with brooms every day and all it manages to achieve is soil erosion I guess. The flood of nature lovers doesn’t end.

Do everyone a favour folks. Stay the hell away from the outdoors, if picking up after yourself is beyond your capabilities. Pick up every bit of garbage you throw whether it is biodegradable or not. Smokers, don’t forget the stubs. and gutkha eaters, the wrappers are not for permanent route marking for hikers to come.

And yes, I’m angry. So would you be, if every spare moment in the outdoors was about cleaning up the place. And if you don’t, please do. Pick what litter you find. Speak with groups you come across and ask them to do the same.

Please, while you’re at it, pick up the degradable stuff as well. LEAVE NO TRACE. If possible minimize traces people have left too.

Bio-degradable stuff has an impact on the environment too. Plus, it is going to be litter until it decays, and the place will never be clean, because there will be other people throwing bio-degradable stuff constantly. To put it bluntly, shit is biodegradable. Do you like sitting next to it?

Think of a beautiful location in the outdoors. You’re the only person there. Its untouched. You like? Untouched is only going to be possible when we clean up the place and give it some time to recover. Not if we keep allowing “touches” to remain behind - degradable or not.

I almost forgot: Leave no trace! READ IT, PROMOTE IT, PRACTICE IT.

Not only can we do things to save the environment, we can spread awareness about the environment and awareness of the choices open to people that they can easily make to create a large collective impact.

Creating awareness can be done in many ways. One of the best is actions. Do it, share it, encourage it.

Another way is sharing information and ideas. Like I’m doing out here, and in my interactions with people in relevant situations.

Another great way is to take an initiative. Announce a clean up drive and encourage people to join in and spread the message. Announce a tree plantation programme. Approach local authorities for the setting up of a rain harvesting scheme for your locality and share your knowledge and experience with other localities.

Confront people who litter and request them to support the environment through their actions and explain why it is necessary.

Create motivation and interest in local schools.

There is so much that can be done. I do things and new things occur to my mind. It is a journey of feeling for this world we live in. Will you do it? Will you travel along?

That’s a big luxury and need today. In Mumbai, a powercut is rare, but in many other parts of India, uninterrupted electric supply is rare. Again, it is a matter of using what we have wisely.

Switch off lights, fans, and anything that consumes electricity when not in use. Decrease your bills by exploring solar power. Switch to lower consumption versions of appliances. Switch off all things not needed when leaving home. These measures will help extend the utility of existing power resources as well as save money on electricity bills.

When cooking, use gas wisely. A flame that extends beyond the base of that utensil is gas going waste and only charring food on the sides of the utensil. Turn it lower and save yourself some cleaning effort while you’re at it.

Keep your ingredients ready or easily accessible while cooking, so that you don’t cook food unnecessarily longer, consuming more fuel and making the food less tasty. Use pressure cookers to speed up cooking and save fuel too.

Solar cookers are great, if you live in a place where you have sunlight, and an area where you can place your cooker safely. Food cooks slowly, retains maximum nutrients, utensils are extremely easy to clean, and no bills of any sort. Sunlight is free  Solar cookers are extremely easy and inexpensive to make.