Bandra's Rewa Nargolkar has decided to take the green Ganpati initiative three steps further by sculpting a clay idol all by herself, adorning it with edible colours, and organising an immersion at home, rather than cluttering the seas.

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She made the five-foot statue after attending a daylong workshop. "I have been living in Mumbai for 12 years now and I try to make the idol as eco-friendly as possible. This year has been a peak. After making the five-foot idol, which was all in grey, I even painted it with an edible green colour, the kind my daughter uses in cakes," Nargolkar said.

The 45-year-old's family decided to colour the mouse brown with instant coffee diluted with water.

Nargolkar's drive to keep things ecologically friendly goes beyond the idol. Last year, after she immersed her clay idol at home, she used the sediment as well as the water to plant flowers. "I immersed the idol in a bucket of water. The clay settled down at the bottom. I collected it and planted hibiscus in it, it's a flower loved by Lord Ganesha. I nurtured the plant all year long. When I saw that plants weren't blooming as they should, I took them to a horticulturist to restore their health. The plants are now very healthy".

This year, Nargolkar plans to reuse the clay post-immersion. "Once the clay is settled in the bucket, I will collect it in a cotton bag, dry it and try to use it next year for moulding the idol. I hope my experiment is successful."

She added that she'd use the water for watering plants, "as I do every year".

The family has received many visitors who are eager to glimpse her eco-friendly Ganpati painted in eatable colours.