The "Green Ganesha" celebrations at the BrookeField's Mall was much-appreciated by the public as the participants enthralled the audience by creating eco-friendly Ganapathy idols made of bio-degradable materials.
The participants who were of varied age groups starting from a 8-year-old school student to 83-year-old retired Professor not only proved their creative skills but also broke the myth that artistic things could be created from bio-degradable materials. A quick walk through of their creations made us feel, what if such initiatives had been taken a decade back, undoubtedly several hundreds of our water bodies and water living creatures could have been saved.
Coming back to the event, around 15 teams each consisting of 3-4 members were busy assembling their materials to be used for creating the Green Ganesha. Almost all possible bio-degradable materials like fruits & vegetables, quilling paper, wheat flour, natural colours, natural clay, spices & condiments and turmeric formed the base for the 'Green Ganapathy' creation.
Briefing about this initiative, Sujatha, Manager of the Brookefields Mall said that "Looking at the participation, it doesn't look like a Wednesday at all. Though the invite for the event was sent out to public only 4-5 days back, the response has been amazing. Had we announced it a little before, am sure the participation numbers would be multi-fold. However, we are amazed to see the participants who have come from various parts of the city with bio-degradable materials to create their own Green Ganesha. Every participant here are Socially-responsible citizens rather than just participants".
One of the participant who won the first prize quoted that "We have used Turmeric as the main material. And for natural colours we have used beetroot juice, coriander juice for getting additional colours. And, for the eyes we have used peppercorns and decorated the body with Coriander and cumin seeds".
Another participant who had made Green Ganapathy using clay quoted that "We have build the entire structure using clay which is the traditional way of creating idols during the yester years. And, what makes our idol special is we have added 108 varieties of seeds pertaining to our traditional tree species like Pungai, Vembu, Peepal etc.,"
Some of the school-going children who participated in the event surprised the viewers by creating Modaks and Mouse using Wheat flour and natural clay. The children had also used green chillies to create ears of the Ganesha, Red Chilli for his trunk and Brinjal for his big belly.
When questioned to the students for using green chillies as ears, they said "We want to enhance his hearing skills by making it more sharp" told the students in a funny and sarcastic tone.
Lights made out of carved capsicums; red, yellow and green was definitely worth appreciating. And, not to forget the modern day colorful Ganesha made of quilling paper who posed an elegant yet kiddish look.
More than the presentation, the children and all the participants had put lot of efforts in finding out various possible bio-degradable materials and the thought of being ec0-friendly was instilled among everyone which definitely does justice to the purpose of the whole event. The winners were awarded with cash prizes and as a token of appreciation, rest of all the participants were given consolation prizes.