human – Page 44 – Take off with Natarajan

Message for the Day….” The human body is a plantain leaf, your heart is a sacred vessel and and the sacred food items are the virtues and acts of good conduct.”

February 20, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Before offering to God, it is food. Once it is offered to God, it becomes free from all impurities and gets transformed into prasadam. By eating such sacred food, one will not acquire any mental impurities. We offer food to God on a clean plantain leaf. The human body is a plantain leaf, your heart is a sacred vessel and and the sacred food items are the virtues and acts of good conduct. Today to whom are you offering food? Your sacred food offering is to demons of wicked feelings such as anger, hatred, and jealousy. The left over is being offered to God. That is why you are victims of restlessness, difficulties, sorrows, and misery. Get rid of your evil qualities and offer your virtues to God with the prayer: ‘Oh God, You are the resident of my heart and You are the embodiment of love, kindness, and compassion.

Sathya Sai Baba

Message for the Day….” Anger is the enemy number one….”

February 20, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

People crave worldly happiness. If you analyse properly, this is the disease, and the resultant suffering we experience is its medicine and remedy. In the midst of these worldly pleasures, one rarely entertains the desire to attain the Lord. Besides it is necessary to analyse and discriminate every act of a person. It is this analysis which will give rise to the spirit of renunciation. Without this effort, renunciation is difficult to obtain. Miserliness is like the behavior of a dog; it has to be transformed. Anger is enemy number one of the spiritual aspirant; it is like spittle and has to be treated as such. And untruth is even more disgusting — through untruth, the vital powers of all are destroyed. It should be treated as scavenging itself. Theft ruins life; it makes the priceless human life cheaper than a pie; it is like rotten and foul smelling flesh. Moderate food, moderate sleep, love (prema), and fortitude will help in the upkeep of the health of both body and mind.

Sathya Sai Baba

THE LEGENDARY TOILETS OF SINGAPORE AND THE FLUSHING LAW….

February 18, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Over the years the city of Singapore has been described by many as one of the cleanest on Earth with roads and toilets being “clean enough to eat off“, which is perhaps to be expected from a city where it’s illegal not to flush a public toilet.

The reason why toilets in Singapore are so insanely clean can be traced back to the work of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first and arguably most popular prime minister. Kuan Yew rose to power in 1959 and continued to serve as Singapore’s leader for 31 years until he decided to step down in 1990. When Singapore became an independent nation in 1965, Kuan Yew is noted as being instrumental to the the small city-state being able to so quickly transform itself from being a “poor port from the bottom rungs of the third world” to being one of the most profitable and prosperous economies on the planet.

Kuan Yew accomplished this through a series of reforms aimed at making the country an overall nicer place to live including:

Enacting legislation to make prosecuting corrupt officials easier as well as “relentlessly pursuing” corruption wherever he encountered it.
Paying civil servants decent wages to ensure the jobs would be tempting to Singapore’s best and brightest and giving them bonuses based on how well the Singapore’s economy does on a yearly basis.
Inviting foreign corporations to set up shop in his country to create reliable employment for his citizens and foster international relations.
Establishing the Housing and Development Board to help house residents without homes into newly built apartments. Further, unlike most nation’s public housing, Singapore’s is quite nice, places people actually want to live.
Drafting legislation to plant tress and clean up the cities waterways and rivers which were notably filthy. Kuan Yew was so serious about making Singapore cleaner, he famously promised that if his dream wasn’t a reality by 1986 and he was still in charge, that he’d personally hunt down whomever was responsible for the failure and shoot them. Because he wasn’t playing around.
Creating the Water Planning Unit, which was tasked with helping the country become less dependent on water from Malaysia, which was threatening to cut off their water supply after Singapore gained independence. This initiative, like so many others he enacted, was a resounding success, with Time magazine later calling Singapore “the global paragon of water conservation.” In fact, their system is so efficient that they even can, and do, process non-potable waste-water into high-purity drinking water.
Imposing stiff taxes on car ownership and enacting the Clean Air Act as well as creating the Anti-Pollution Unit, to help keep Singapore’s air pollution levels at an acceptable, healthy level.

By far Kuan Yew’s most infamous policies though were his incredibly strict rules in regards to public cleanliness, most if not all of which carry hefty fines if you’re caught breaking them. For example, not flushing a public toilet is considered a crime in Singapore and if you’re caught flouting it, you will be given an on the spot fine of about 150 dollars, more if you’re a repeat offender. Likewise, littering carries an equally heavy fine of about 300 dollars or more, depending on the size of the item. Smaller items like candy wrappers usually incur a lesser fine, whilst things like soda cans can net you a trip to court and even a caning if you’re caught.

Kuan Yew’s biggest bugbear, however, was chewing gum; he hated it with such a passion that since the 1990s, gum has been outright banned in the country. This was later (partially) repealed in 2004 and gum is now okay to be brought into the country in small quantities and dentists are allowed to prescribe it for certain medical conditions.

While this may seem a tad extreme, Kuan Yew’s annoyance with gum chewing wasn’t without precedent. You see, prior to the ban in 1992, the government was spending upwards of 150,000 dollars a year to clean it up and vandals were using it to disrupt the sensors on the country’s newly built subway trains, stopping their doors from shutting and in the process causing huge delays. After the ban, cases of such gum littering plummeted and the associated costs of cleaning it up dropped to negligible levels.

If you’re wondering how exactly Singapore enforces these dozens of laws, it’s mostly accomplished usinghundreds of undercover police officers who have the power to issue on the spot fines to anyone seen flouting them. Officers are known to check toilets after they’ve been used and even install security cameras if they receive multiple complaints on a particular toilet, to catch offenders in the act.

Perhaps our favourite Singapore cleanliness fact is that many of Singapore’s elevators have “Urine Detection Devices” which will lock the doors of an elevator and summon the police to your location to arrest you if it detects that you’re relieving yourself in one.

All of this may seem excessive, but the results really speak for themselves; today, Singapore is largely considered one of the world’s leading economies and the city itself is one of the most industrious, safe, clean, nicest to live and richest on Earth. In fact, Singapore is currently enjoying 16 consecutive years on the top spot of the “world’s most livable cities“, and is also generally considered the world’s best city for businesses. Not bad for a place that was up until about 50 years ago or so described as a “swampy land mass“.

Bonus Facts:

There’s a charity in Singapore called the Restroom Association Singapore (RAS). Set up in 1998 by a man called Jack Sim, who later went on to found the World Toilet Organization (WTO), RAS has backed numerous campaigns to educated the public about the benefits of toilet cleanliness and even offers awards to exceptionally clean restrooms in the public and private sectors. Their stated mission is to, among other things, “investigate and find out the root cause of dirty toilets. We must identify the needs of various users including tourists and foreign workers so as to promote better designed toilets that cater to these needs. We must constantly source for the best practices in cleanliness, design and maintenance of public toilets and review our local standards. Together with the government and other strategic partners, we must continue to raise awareness among the community on public health issues and educate the users on good toilet etiquette.” Sim was reportedly inspired to start the RAS when he heard Kuan Yew’s successor, Goh Chok Tong say “we should measure our graciousness according to the cleanliness of our public toilets”. Today, Singapore’s toilet facilities are the envy of the modern world and Sim has used his clout in the world of toilets to help bring safe, clean toilet facilities to millions in the third world through the WTO. Sims has since earned the rather awesome honor of being called “a Hero of the Environment” by Time magazine. Not bad for a guy who just wants everyone to have a clean toilet to pee and poop in.
Despite being only a small city-state with a few million residents, Singapore is one of the most prosperous nations on Earth. So much so that it is often referred to as one of the “Four Asian Tigers”, a phrase used to describe the countries of Singapore, Taiwan, Hong-Kong and South Korea, all of which are noted as being economic powerhouses despite their relatively small size.

Though his rule wasn’t without controversy, Lee Kuan Yew is generally regarded as being unquestionably instrumental to the country’s transformation from a small port town into the shining utopia-esque city it is today. When Kuan Yew passed away in 2015, many officials spoke of his “unwavering dedication” to making Singapore a fundamentally better place for those who lived there. As you’d expect for a world leader who served for several decades, Kuan Yew has had a number of colorful quotes attributed to him over the years including: “Even from my sick bed, even if you are going to lower me into the grave and I feel something is going wrong, I will get up.” and our personal favourite, “If you can’t think because you can’t chew, try a banana” when asked if Singapore’s stringent cleanliness laws would “stifle the people’s creativity“.
To date, the highest fine given to a litter bug is 19,800 Singaporean dollars, given to a man who repeatedly threw cigarette butts out of his high-rise apartment building’s window.

Source…..www/today i foundout.com

Natarajan

These Miniature Models Are Created Using – Hold Your Breath – Pen Refills!..

February 17, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Sreenivasulu M.R. has always had a fascination for the arts. He started painting at the age of seven. He enrolled himself in a dance school and is now accomplished in Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, and folk dance. However, his biggest fascination is making miniature models.

Sreenivasulu honed his skills as a child by making miniature house models from wedding invitation cards. He also had a habit of collecting pen refills from his friends.

Being an environmentalist, he conducts various programmes to spread awareness on global warming. At the ‘Say No to Plastic’ programmes, which he organises in schools and colleges, he keeps pen refill collection boxes.

These refills later turned into raw materials and Sreenivasulu started making monuments out of them.

Through this, Sreenivasulu is driving home the idea of recycling. He began by making a model of the Eiffel Tower. It took him eight months and over 200 refills to create it. Since then, there has been no stopping Sreenivasulu.

Today, this software professional has made the Charminar, Big Ben, Taj Mahal, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Gateway of India, Seattle Space Needle, and Sydney Harbor Bridge from used pen refills. His miniature Taj Mahal, made from 700 pen refills, even found a place in the ‘India Book of Records’ in the year 2012.

Take a look at some of his models:

Source……Meryl Garcia in http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

Do You Know Tyre Furniture Is the Rage in Hyderabad’s Govt. Offices? All Thanks to This Couple.

February 16, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

This couple went searching for furniture for their new home. And ended up making bamboo houses for others. Now, they have moved on to manufacturing all things recyclable.

Newlyweds Prashant Lingam and Aruna were out shopping for furniture to set up their new home when they realised the market is inundated with plastic, iron, and steel furniture. They decided they weren’t going to succumb to buying something commercial but would look for eco-friendly products.

So, the Hyderabad-based couple did some research and found that bamboo furniture was very common overseas, although it wasn’t very popular in India as yet. Attracted by the idea, they started looking for manufacturers of such furniture – their search eventually took them to a far-off village in Tripura called Katlamara, on the Indo-Bangladesh border.

“This sleepy little village surprised us. There were artisans in this village who were highly skilled in working with bamboo. Though they had the skills, they were finding it difficult to sustain their trade due to lack of buyers,” says Prashant.

Sensing a future in the bamboo business, the couple decided to undertake an extensive tour of places where artisans make handicrafts and furniture from bamboo.

“Our family and friends thought we were crazy. We had just been married for a year. Aruna dropped her PhD plans while I decided to take my focus away from my business. It was a big risk. But our hard work and research eventually paid off,” he adds.

In May 2008, the couple started Bamboo House India – a social enterprise that provides livelihood opportunities to marginalised communities working in the bamboo sector.

The organisation practises fair trade and ensures artisans are adequately compensated for their time, labour and raw materials used in making each product.

India is well-endowed with bamboo. It grows on millions of hectares of forest as well as private land. Since it is a grass, the plant is not killed when it is cut. Instead, it grows back. Bamboo can be harvested thrice a year. Because most bamboo grows in forest areas, Prashant and Aruna faced constraints in sourcing and transporting the raw material. But the couple overcame these barriers slowly. They funded their venture from their own personal savings and some money borrowed from family and friends.

Today, Bamboo House India is supported by the National Mission of Bamboo Applications, Andhra Pradesh Technology Development Centre, IIT-Delhi, and others.

After successfully creating aesthetically appealing houses, furniture, and other products made with bamboo, Prashant and Aruna decided to venture into making other eco-friendly products as well.

“Customers for whom we were building bamboo huts started requesting us to provide them with furniture also. We were wondering what new innovation we could come up with. This is when we hit upon the idea of using tyres to make furniture,” says Prashant.

This was again a challenging time for the couple. They had no idea as to how to use tyres as raw materials.

It took their research and development team almost a year to come up with the first prototype of a product.

During the process of studying tyres, Aruna and Prashant landed up at the municipal dump yard in Secunderabad. “There were acres of end-of-life tyres just lying around. We were stunned at the sheer volume. Because tyres hardly fetch any money, the authorities wouldn’t even auction them regularly. It was a breeding ground for mosquitoes as well,” he adds.

After seeing the pathetic state of the dump yard, the couple became firm in their resolve to do something with tyres. Initially, there were accidents in their workshop as nobody had any clue about cutting tyres. But they managed to put a safe system in place finally.

Bamboo House India now makes furniture, flower pots, etc., out of these recycled tyres. And the best part is the company sells these products back to the municipal authorities.

After teaming up with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), the company first provided furniture to the North Zone GHMC Office. There has been no looking back since then.

Today, Bamboo House India’s goods made from recyclable materials like tyres, drums, PET bottles, etc., adorn government offices, bus stops and parks in Hyderabad.

“The government officials are so happy with the development that they want to replicate this practice across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The State Bus Corporation has asked us to design furniture for bus stands. For the authorities it is a win-win situation actually. We use junk from their backyard and sell products back to them. They are also saving on a lot of money. The tyre pots last a long time compared to the cement pots they buy every year,” says Prashant.

The products are reasonably priced and cost between Rs. 500 and Rs. 1500. Bamboo House India has a margin of only 15-16% on these products.

The couple is now looking for social investors to scale up the business.

“The satisfaction we get ultimately is not only from using eco-friendly products but also from providing employment to the men and women from underprivileged backgrounds who work with us,” Prashant says.

When asked about his vision for the company, Prashant says it would be great if other social entrepreneurs across India get inspired by this model and replicate it in different parts of the country.

For more details, visit their page on Facebook.

Source……. Meryl Garcia in http://www.the better india.com

Natarajan

Message for the Day… ” Exercise Control over Your speech, vision and laughter…”

February 16, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

None can escape from the reaction, reflection, and resound of their actions. Everyone will have to experience the consequences of their own actions. People who indulge in evil practices become distant from God. People who earn a bad reputation through their evil deeds will have no place in divine proximity. Therefore have a check on yourself when you laugh or scorn at others. Not just this, your speech and vision also must be in check. Some people sing inappropriate songs and eve tease women walking on the road. Has God given you a tongue to sing such vulgar songs? How sacred is the tongue, and what an evil use you put it to? By acting in an inappropriate manner, you ruin your reputation and subject yourself to ridicule by others. Therefore exercise control over your speech, vision, and laughter. If you want to earn a good name in the society and be respected by it, conduct yourself in a befitting manner.

Sathya Sai Baba

Message for the Day…” Like cream in milk, and fire in fuel, God is in everything….Have full faith on this…”

February 15, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

There is no penance (tapas) higher than fortitude, no happiness greater than contentment, no good deed (punya) holier than mercy, no weapon more effective than patience. Consider your body as the field and good deeds as seeds and cultivate the name of the Lord, with the help of the heart as farmer, to reap the harvest of the Lord Himself. Like cream in milk and fire in fuel, the Lord is in everything. Have full faith in this. As the milk, so the cream; as the fuel, so the fire; so also, as the spiritual discipline, so is the direct divine experience (sakshatkara)! Even if you don’t attain liberation (mukthi) as a consequence of taking up the Lord’s name, one of these four gates will be open to you: Company of the virtuous, truth, contentment and control of the senses. Anyone who enters through any one of these gates will certainly attain the Lord without fail.

Two School Students Help Hundreds of Indian Grandparents Fight Loneliness with Technology !!!

February 14, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

These high school students are introducing technology to senior citizens in an effort to help them overcome loneliness and social isolation – all because of respect and love for their grandparents, who they consider their superheroes.

The 2001 census of India showed that the population of senior citizens in India has crossed 100 million. Today, India is home to one out of every 10 senior citizens in the world. Yet, very few in the country are looking into the problems faced by this ageing section of our society.

An emotional and psychological problem tormenting elders in our country is loneliness.

A student helps a senior citizen learn how to use a computer.

This is due to the growing ‘empty nest syndrome.’ Children go away to far-off countries in search of economic betterment. Even if they live within the country, due to the spread of western ideas such as ‘space, privacy, individualism and non-interference,’ nuclear families are becoming the norm even in villages.

Poor social interaction with family and friends, poor social networks, and lack of family support are some of the difficulties faced by senior citizens. At the other extreme is the young generation today, highly dependent on social networking to stay connected with family and friends and build connections. Two high school students from Delhi are helping bridge the gap between the two generations.

Vibhor Rohatgi and Suyesha Dutta were in their 11th grade in Shri Ram School Mouslari, Gurgaon, which follows the International Baccalaureate (IB) board.

Suyesha (on extreme left) and Vibhor (second from right) with their teacher

Creativity, activity, service (CAS) are the three essential elements of a CAS project that every student must complete as part of the Diploma Programme (DP) in the IB board internationally. For many students, these projects provide experiences that are profound and fulfilling.

Vibhor and Suyesha decided to take up a CAS project that would prove to be not only life changing for them but also for a much ignored segment of our society –senior citizens.

“When CAS is discussed in school, most students think of helping the underprivileged, the needy or the slum kids. We have this belief that only those who are deprived of money need help. But there are people who have it all but still feel emotionally empty. We wanted to help them – our grandparents,” says Suyesha.

Bridging the generation gap – senior citizens with students.

Suyesha, who had spent a lot of time with her grandparents till she was in her teens, lost her grandfather three years ago. She saw her grandmother spending most of her days alone after that. So she decided to connect her to technology to help her overcome her loneliness. Once she saw how successful that experiment was, she wanted to gift technology not just to her own grandmother but to as many other grandparents as she could as a tribute to her grandfather.

Suyesha and her friend Vibhor are great fans of the comic superhero Silver Surfer, a humanoid with metallic skin who can travel space with the aid of his surfboard-like craft. Since this superman is an icon of technology himself, they decided to name their initiative the Silver Surfer Programme.

“The Silver Surfer Programme (SSP), a social initiative started by us, is the epitome of the maxim ‘age is just a number.’ Age is a measure of experience, inefficiently gauged by how many candles one blows out every year. To this plenitude of experiences, we, looking to bring about a social change in society, decided to add one more…the experience known as technology,” says Vibhor

“We called it the Silver Surfer Programme because Silver Surfer is a superhero and we consider our grandparents to be superheroes. His senses enable him to detect objects and energies light years away. Similarly, grandparents have strong intuition and can detect any problem or trouble in their children’s and grandchildren’s lives. He has even proven capable of time travel on occasions, just like our grandparents take us back to their times by narrating stories from their childhood,” adds Suyesha

The Silver Surfer Programme is an effort to better acquaint grandparents with the delights of modern day technology.

SSP aims to make the lives of grandparents simpler, faster and efficient. The programme includes two hour modules on three Saturdays every month for the grandparents. The programme, which began in May 2015, includes the following learning sessions:

Introduction to the programme and its aim.

Introduction to email – how to write an email.

Introduction to Facebook and Twitter – how to open and set up an account, send requests, etc.

Familiarization with smart phones and tablets and an introduction to WhatsApp – how to set up an account, send and receive messages, etc.

Introduction and use of specialist apps, such as, Grofers, Flipkart, BookMyShow, News InShorts/ Times of India, Ola and Meru Cabs, etc.

Net banking through HDFC, SBI, etc.

Paying utility bills such as electricity, phone bills, etc.

The programme, which started with the help of a few volunteers and their teacher Amrita Sai Marla, became so close to their hearts that they decided to continue it even after the CAS project was over.

The classes were conducted in the computer hall of their school, so they took special permission to continue with the classes. Now, as they have graduated from school, they plan to hand it over to their juniors.

Suyesha and Vibhor do not want to stop getting the blessings of grandparents even after they bid farewell to school. They are now planning to take the initiative forward by going to old age homes and teaching the grandparents who are staying there.

“We raise concerns over environmental degradation or the lack of education of the underprivileged, but seldom have we ever touched upon the most experienced in our society, the grandparents. As we feel that grandparents are the cornerstones of our lives, this is how we’ve decided to do something for them, show them our love and support. We work really hard towards our modules, undertake new challenges and come up with some interesting and essential things for the grandparents to learn, while constantly keeping them engaged. The blessings that the grandparents shower upon us make us feel accomplished and we don’t want to miss a single chance to keep those jubilant smiles on their faces,” says Suyesha

One of the defining moments of the Silver Surfer Programme came when a grandmother from a foreign country came to learn about Facebook from them.

Grandparents are overjoyed at connecting with old friends through Facebook.

Now in her 70s, this grandmother had not seen her friends ever since she was in her 20s and had to leave her country due to political instability. The prospect of even getting a glimpse of her school friends made her so eager to learn that within minutes Vibhor and Suyesha helped her set up her very own Facebook account. After intensive searching for an hour, they finally found her old friends.

“Never did a click ever make someone this happy. Overflowing with emotion she was as she got to speak to her friends, her smile radiating light on a cloudy, rainy day. It is for moments such as this that we had started this initiative,” says Vibhor.

“The journey of the Silver Surfer Programme has instilled in me vital life lessons that have helped me develop and grow as a person. For instance, I have learned that learning, in its candid, most humble form, is not bound by time but that it is in fact imperishable. Learning is a well-oiled machine that never stops, a beating heart that gives life. I have learned that there is no ‘right’ age and it is never ‘too late’ to learn,” adds Vibhor.

Suyesha narrates another happy moment when one of the grandmothers came to her after the class and requested that she teach her how to download songs. Initially, Suyesha was reluctant to do so. She explained to her how it would be an act of piracy. However, the grandmother insisted by saying that it was her favorite song and no one was helping her download it, even though she saw her grandchildren doing it all the time.

“It was an Atif Aslam song, Jiya re Jiya re! I can’t describe the glow in her eyes after it downloaded. She left me with numerous blessings that day,” says Suyesha

The Silver Surfer Programme has now evolved to also start providing the benefits of technology to workers and guards of their school. Their next series of modules is aimed at computer literacy, wherein they will teach the guards and workers everything about the basics of using computers – using the mouse, keyboard, internet, etc.

Source….Manabi Katoch in http://www.the betterindia.com

……About the author: A mechanical engineer, Manabi Katoch has been brought up listening to Tagore’s poems and stories, so she is kind of an emotional person within. She loves writing poems and stories on social and political issues. Few of her poems can be viewed on http://www.poemocean.com and satires on http://www.mindthenews.com. She has worked with Wipro, Frankfinn and Educomp in the past.

Waste to Valuable: Used Flowers in Religious Shrines Are given a New Life by These 2 Friends…

February 14, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

Two friends in Kanpur were shocked by the amount of flowers that are dumped into the Ganges every single day, choking the river with pesticides and chemical fertilisers. They started collecting the flowers from temples and mosques in the city, and turned them into some brilliant eco-friendly products.

Enter a temple, mosque, gurudwara or church in India and the first thing you’ll probably notice is the abundance of flowers at the place of worship. There are flower sellers at the entrance, flowers strewn all over the shrine’s floor, devotees receiving flowers in the form of blessings – there seems to be no limit. Ever wonder what happens to those sacred flowers once we are done with our prayers?

According to many religious beliefs, flowers that are offered during prayers are sacrosanct and cannot be dumped into the garbage once they’ve wilted. This is one of the reasons why people prefer to discard them in rivers, lakes and other water bodies. But not many of us think about the fertilizers and pesticides that might have been used to grow these flowers, which then mix with the water and pollute it.

Ankit Agrawal and Karan Rastogi, two friends from Kanpur, had often thought of this issue. While growing up, the river Ganges had been an important part of their lives and it pained them to see it become increasingly polluted as the years went by.

Karan and Ankit

“Karan and I have been friends since childhood and some of our friends live abroad as well. Whenever all of us meet in Kanpur, there isn’t much to show them in the city. And when our friends see the river, their first reaction always has to do with how polluted it is. That was the starting point for our idea. Karan used to go to the temple every day and he would see the waste flowers being collected to be dumped in the river. So we thought of doing something to treat these flowers,” says 27-year-old Ankit.

According to him, every year, approximately 80, 00,000 tons of waste flowers are dumped into Indian rivers.

So, Ankit and Karan started thinking of a way to convert these flowers into an eco-friendly business venture. They started research in 2012 and a brilliant idea had taken shape by 2014 after several experiments. In May 2015, they founded Helpusgreen with the aim of utilizing the disposed flowers and turning them into bio-fertilisers and lifestyle products.

The duo picks up flowers from different places of worship every day – approximately 500 kg of them. Since they don’t have a factory, they divide the amount equally between themselves and take the flowers to their respective homes.

The flowers are then mixed with organic cow dung and treated with about 17 natural components like coffee residue, corn cobs, etc. These help increase the nitrogen content in the end-product. After a few days, earthworms are added to the mix. These worms consume the mixture and lead to the formation of vermicompost after 60 days. In this process, earthworms ingest the organic waste and then excrete it in a digested form. The excreta, called worm cast, is a dark, odourless and nutrient rich material that works as a great soil conditioner. Worm casts or vermicompost is a ready-to-use fertilizer.

Karan and Ankit have named this product Mitti and it helps improve soil texture for the better growth of plants.\

Helpusgreen product range

While 80% of the flowers are used to make vermicompost, the rest are crushed and made into incense sticks andyajna/havan items.

For manufacturing these items, the duo has employed 85 women from different self-help groups in villages around Kanpur, thus providing them with a source of income.

Women from self-help groups

“The women take the flower dough home and work for about four hours a day. We don’t use any chemical fragrances to make these products. Everything is natural,” says Ankit.

Most temples and mosques in Kanpur have management committees that collect the flowers inside the shrines and put them in bins. From here they are sent to be thrown into the river. Helpusgreen collects the flowers directly from the places of worship. According to Ankit, 2400 kg flowers are discarded in Kanpur on a daily basis. But Helpusgreen is only in a position to treat about 500 kg flowers a day, collected from 13 temples and three mosques.

Another great feature of Helpusgreen products is that they use recycled packaging, made from discarded cartons from a liquor factory in Kanpur.

Additionally, because they know people usually don’t throw away packets that have pictures of gods and goddesses on them, Ankit and Karan pack the havan/yajna items in seed paper that is embedded with tulsi seeds.

The discarded packets will grow into beautiful plants when they come into contact with soil.

Currently, they are exporting most of their products to Switzerland and Germany. And they are also making them available on e-commerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc.

“We have produced 1.5 lakh kg flower compost till now. My mom was the target customer for us in the beginning. We had decided to keep working on the products till she approved of them. And the best feedback came from her. She loves it,” says Ankit laughing.

While most of us leave it to the gods to take care of the flowers we offer up in places of worship, kudos to Ankit and Karan for turning at least a part of the offerings into such amazing and environment-friendly products.

Visit here to know more about Helpusgreen. You can purchase these products here and here. Contact the founders at hola@helpusgreen.com.

Source……..Tanaya Singh in http://www.the betterindia.com

Natarajan

” What is the Value of Life ….” ?

February 14, 2016NatarajanLeave a comment

A man went to God and asked, “What’s the value of life?”

God gave him one stone and said, “Find out the value of this stone, but don’t sell it.”

The man took the stone to an Orange Seller and asked him what its cost would be.

The Orange Seller saw the shiny stone and said, “You can take 12 oranges and give me the stone.”

The man apologized and said that the God has asked him not to sell it.

He went ahead and found a vegetable seller. “What could be the value of this stone?”

he asked the vegetable seller.

The seller saw the shiny stone and said, “Take one sack of potatoes and give me the stone.”

The man again apologized and said he can’t sell it.

Further ahead, he went into a jewellery shop and asked the value of the stone.

The jeweler saw the stone under a lens and said, “I’ll give you 50 Lakhs for this stone.”

When the man shook his head, the jeweler said, “Alright, alright, take 2 crores, but give me the stone.”

The man explained that he can’t sell the stone. Further ahead, the man saw a precious stones shop

and asked the seller the value of this stone.

When the precious stone seller saw the big ruby, he lay down a red cloth and put the ruby on it.

Then he walked in circles around the ruby and bent down and touched his head in front of the ruby.

“From where did you bring this priceless ruby from?” he asked. “Even if I sell the whole world, and

my life, I won’t be able to purchase this priceless stone.

Stunned and confused, the man returned to the God and told him what had happened. “Now tell me

what is the value of life, God?

God said, “The answers you got from the Orange Seller, the Vegetable Seller, the Jeweler and the

Precious Stone’s Seller explain the value of our life… You may be a precious stone, even priceless,

but people may value you based on their level of information, their belief in you, their motive behind

entertaining you, their ambition, and their risk taking ability. But don’t fear, you will surely find someone

who will discern your true value.”

In the eyes of God you are very very precious. Respect yourself. You are Unique. No one can Replace you!

Source…..unknown….input from a friend of mine

Natarajan