It’s all about being environment friendly this Ganesha Chaturthi!
In a bid to revive the environment-friendly spirit of Bangaloreans and to bring out the religious significance of using clay Ganesha idols, an NGO called Youth for Seva started an online awareness campaign called Parisara Ganapathi, through the website www.parisaraganapati.net.
“The idea behind the campaign is to make people understand the religious significance of using clay idols during the festival. This is being explained in the words and voices of religious scholars. One such reason that they give is worshipping a clay idol is equivalant to worshipping Mother Eart and all her creations. So, essentially, one is praying for the well-being of the entire world,” said Srinivasan, coordinator of Parisara Ganapathi.
The campaign is also aiming to make people more aware of the ill effects that plaster of paris and artificial colours like chromium compounds have on water bodies when the the idols are immersed. “The campaign promotes idols made of clay, that are painted with biodegradable and vegetable dyes,” Srinivasan added.
He said that the campaign started late due to lack of resources and could not achieve the desired results this year as the campaign was limited only to computer literates.
But the team has already begun chalking out plans for next year’s campaign, where they would target schools and colleges for awareness programmes and also teach students to make clay idols of Lord Ganesha.
When asked about people’s inclination to keep a well decorated plaster of paris idol of Ganesha at home during the festival, Srinivasan suggested, “People can keep two idols for the puja — one of clay and another ofplaster of paris. They can then immerse the clay idol, while the other idol can be kept at home. In this manner, they will have the satisfaction of having a well decorated idol and also preserving the environment.”
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