Hi Team,
This is a great initiative..Hope this should change entire crowd very soon. i have a small suggestion..though we are really interested in buying the place is very far..hope there are many like me..so you can take orders from website, in the evening volunteers of yours can deliver the orders to the respective areas where they are staying…don’t know how far it is implementable..just a suggestion..
Your website is really impressive and dedicated to a good cause.
One key area to strengthen is to provide more places where eco-friendly Ganesha idols can be purchased. The currently listed 3 is way too less for a city of the size of B’lore.
While on one hand it is good to raise the awareness and create the demand in parallel the supply should be ensured so that the converts do not turn away due to lack of easy availability of the idols.
Thanks for your feedback. We are in the process of collecting more addresses /shops. We will be updating the posts in the Buying ecoGanesha idols.
There are some shop keepers who can setup stalls in different places with unpainted idols, we will posting the details soon, you can get in touch with them.
If you make an effort u can get unpainted idols, just go ask the local shopkeeper to provide u one and give a few days notice, It should work.
Your website is good and your initiative also very good. But when I saw the writings in kannada section, I felt very bad. It is full of mistakes. Could you please have someone to correct the spellings in kannada script.
I sow the Ganapathi making video by you. It is simply Great. Wanted to make one suggestion – The translation og Murthis or Pratimas are probably not hte best translation. Looks at what is the meaning of Idol: (This is not what we mean when we say Murthi, Pratima or GOD) So, ;et’s try using better words in place of Idols.. (Thanks)
i·dol (dl)n.
1. a. An image used as an object of worship.
b. A false god.
2. One that is adored, often blindly or excessively.
3. Something visible but without substance.
4.idol – someone who is adored blindly and excessively
5. matinee idol
6. heartthrob – an object of infatuation
7. principal, star, lead – an actor who plays a principal role
i pray the ganapathy in this ocassion is that every one should understand the theme of the website and i hope that this website definitly create the awareness about the environment conservation
Just wanted to let you know that unpainted clay idols are available opp Bata ShowRoom, 9th Main, BSK II Stage.
If you can add this to your list it might help people who are yet to buy…
I am happy to say that, I just brought home a eco-FRIENDLY ganapati, and the reason is the article published in vijaya karnataka. Thanks you for giving this information and idea……I am relieved, as I was able to do the least that I could, as i am not volunteering.But I have sent emails and sms to all i know, regarding this initiative.
I viewed your video on making Ganesha and it inspired me to make my own idol this time for Ganesha Pooja. I would like to thank you for the inspiration, I think this was one of the most satisfying Ganesha festivals we’ve had at our home.
It took about an hour for me to make the Ganesha (excluding decorations, which took about half an hour) and it came out pretty well. I later decorated it with stones and other decorative materials to make the crown, necklace, etc. We were very happy with the way the idol came out and I’ll probably do this every year from now onwards.
However some feedback on the video itself:
1. I would have preferred having the person explain some of the aspects of making Ganesha than to listen to the shlokas.
2. It also could have helped the person talk about proportions .. like leg should be x % larger than hands, trunk to be x times longer than hand, etc.
3. A kind of document or ppt with pictures at a few stages could have definitely helped. We could have printed this out and kept it next to us as, while making the idol, I obviously couldn’t be watching the video as (a) video is too quick and we are too new to this (b) we might not be making the idol where we have connectivity or where we can keep a laptop .. it does get a little messy.
4. It would be great if you could publish the locations where we could find the clay. I searched quite a bit before I found it.
Next time, I am very sure that my Ganesha will look much better than what it did this time, simply because I have expeirened it once.
A few observations from my experience:
1. The back cames out roundish, if you aren’t careful .. which doesn’t look great. Use a knife to cut and flatten the back, so that Ganesha will look more handsome. But do this before you place the legs, hands and trunk on the Ganesha.
2. If you are making the idol on the floor or the table, keep a thick plastic cover before you start, so you don’t mess the table/floor.
3. While making, place the Ganesha on a cardboard or a wooden board, after dusting it with some maida flour or talcom powder. Make a base first. Definitely helps. Make the mouse on the base.
4. When using water to dampen your hands and smoothen Ganesha, use very very little water .. just wet your fingers and shake the excess water. Else, the clay will get too slippery!
5. Once the idol is ready and before it dries, use a pencil or a pin to draw eyes and make some designs on the crown and platform.
6. Use a black beed for the eyes of both Ganesha and the mouse
7. Make the idol 3-4 days prior to the festival, so that it dries well. Once it dries well, you can take it out of the wooden or card board and place it in a plate.
Hope this helps someone who might want to try this next year.
This initiative is very sensible. Shri Ganesha is the Earth principle and such irony that His celebration is the cause of pollution. Wish you all the success in this initiative.
It is indeed a great step to educate people that the festival has been causing harm to ecology. It is to be realised that this is not the only festival that has been a bane to the ecology.
Take for instance any festival. It is mandatory to adorn the doors with mango leaves, as is the custom in South India Region, mainly. How many trees or the branches are shed for every fetival can only be a guess.
A fair assumption is that a family needs for every festival about 40 leaves and four branch-lets to adorn the door, and for Pooja decoration. It is fair to guess that to meet the needs of 3 to 4 thousand families who follow the customs of the festival, one tree has to be shed off of its leaves, totally.
Can we changing the customs to save these trees and for the sake of our future generations.
It is not the mango tree alone that is butchered. The Neem, Banana plants, Goosberry trees, ‘Shami’ trees, ‘Bilva Tree’, ‘Muttuga’ Tree, cocoanut trees, Ekka (Arka) plant, Tulasi Plant, and many other trees and plants are mercilessly hecked for observing the rituals.
Let us be sensible and think for a while to find if life is going to be bad due to curse by God for not observing the rituals, to protect the environment.
Certainly not and It is going to be whatever that happens to those who have no such rituals in their custom shall only happen to us also.
Can we do some damage control at least at this stage and teach our kids not to adopt to such customs in future?
Please help save our environment through supporting the nature to flourish than to perish
namaste,
excellent concept and hats for the initiative. we need such more Eco-friendly celebrations. ganga, kashi, pampa are polluted only due to over dependence and exploitation of our traditional ritual practices. in the name of we are making harm to biosphere. so, all Eco-friendly projects and all such of nature enthusiastic approaches are congratulated.
i am a lecturer by profession, always advice my students to be Eco-friendly in all aspects of life. i will tel about this website and this concepts too so that our true way of worship should be favoring ecological conservation.
August 17th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Hi Team,
This is a great initiative..Hope this should change entire crowd very soon. i have a small suggestion..though we are really interested in buying the place is very far..hope there are many like me..so you can take orders from website, in the evening volunteers of yours can deliver the orders to the respective areas where they are staying…don’t know how far it is implementable..just a suggestion..
August 17th, 2009 at 5:23 am
Hi,
Your website is really impressive and dedicated to a good cause.
One key area to strengthen is to provide more places where eco-friendly Ganesha idols can be purchased. The currently listed 3 is way too less for a city of the size of B’lore.
While on one hand it is good to raise the awareness and create the demand in parallel the supply should be ensured so that the converts do not turn away due to lack of easy availability of the idols.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Thanks for your feedback. We are in the process of collecting more addresses /shops. We will be updating the posts in the Buying ecoGanesha idols.
There are some shop keepers who can setup stalls in different places with unpainted idols, we will posting the details soon, you can get in touch with them.
If you make an effort u can get unpainted idols, just go ask the local shopkeeper to provide u one and give a few days notice, It should work.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Hi
Your website is good and your initiative also very good. But when I saw the writings in kannada section, I felt very bad. It is full of mistakes. Could you please have someone to correct the spellings in kannada script.
Regards
Nagaraj
August 19th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Namaste,
I sow the Ganapathi making video by you. It is simply Great. Wanted to make one suggestion – The translation og Murthis or Pratimas are probably not hte best translation. Looks at what is the meaning of Idol: (This is not what we mean when we say Murthi, Pratima or GOD) So, ;et’s try using better words in place of Idols.. (Thanks)
i·dol (dl)n.
1. a. An image used as an object of worship.
b. A false god.
2. One that is adored, often blindly or excessively.
3. Something visible but without substance.
4.idol – someone who is adored blindly and excessively
5. matinee idol
6. heartthrob – an object of infatuation
7. principal, star, lead – an actor who plays a principal role
August 20th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Thanks for your feedback, we will try to review all the kannada scripts at the earliest and correct the errors.
August 20th, 2009 at 7:49 am
hello.
this is a very good and modern idea to educate people abt their responsibility towards environment. all d best!
August 21st, 2009 at 9:12 am
i pray the ganapathy in this ocassion is that every one should understand the theme of the website and i hope that this website definitly create the awareness about the environment conservation
August 22nd, 2009 at 6:24 am
Just wanted to let you know that unpainted clay idols are available opp Bata ShowRoom, 9th Main, BSK II Stage.
If you can add this to your list it might help people who are yet to buy…
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:07 am
I am happy to say that, I just brought home a eco-FRIENDLY ganapati, and the reason is the article published in vijaya karnataka. Thanks you for giving this information and idea……I am relieved, as I was able to do the least that I could, as i am not volunteering.But I have sent emails and sms to all i know, regarding this initiative.
August 24th, 2009 at 12:51 am
I viewed your video on making Ganesha and it inspired me to make my own idol this time for Ganesha Pooja. I would like to thank you for the inspiration, I think this was one of the most satisfying Ganesha festivals we’ve had at our home.
It took about an hour for me to make the Ganesha (excluding decorations, which took about half an hour) and it came out pretty well. I later decorated it with stones and other decorative materials to make the crown, necklace, etc. We were very happy with the way the idol came out and I’ll probably do this every year from now onwards.
However some feedback on the video itself:
1. I would have preferred having the person explain some of the aspects of making Ganesha than to listen to the shlokas.
2. It also could have helped the person talk about proportions .. like leg should be x % larger than hands, trunk to be x times longer than hand, etc.
3. A kind of document or ppt with pictures at a few stages could have definitely helped. We could have printed this out and kept it next to us as, while making the idol, I obviously couldn’t be watching the video as (a) video is too quick and we are too new to this (b) we might not be making the idol where we have connectivity or where we can keep a laptop .. it does get a little messy.
4. It would be great if you could publish the locations where we could find the clay. I searched quite a bit before I found it.
Next time, I am very sure that my Ganesha will look much better than what it did this time, simply because I have expeirened it once.
A few observations from my experience:
1. The back cames out roundish, if you aren’t careful .. which doesn’t look great. Use a knife to cut and flatten the back, so that Ganesha will look more handsome. But do this before you place the legs, hands and trunk on the Ganesha.
2. If you are making the idol on the floor or the table, keep a thick plastic cover before you start, so you don’t mess the table/floor.
3. While making, place the Ganesha on a cardboard or a wooden board, after dusting it with some maida flour or talcom powder. Make a base first. Definitely helps. Make the mouse on the base.
4. When using water to dampen your hands and smoothen Ganesha, use very very little water .. just wet your fingers and shake the excess water. Else, the clay will get too slippery!
5. Once the idol is ready and before it dries, use a pencil or a pin to draw eyes and make some designs on the crown and platform.
6. Use a black beed for the eyes of both Ganesha and the mouse
7. Make the idol 3-4 days prior to the festival, so that it dries well. Once it dries well, you can take it out of the wooden or card board and place it in a plate.
Hope this helps someone who might want to try this next year.
Regards,
Sandhya.
August 24th, 2009 at 6:33 am
Its very nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
August 24th, 2009 at 6:36 am
good website
August 26th, 2009 at 10:03 am
This initiative is very sensible. Shri Ganesha is the Earth principle and such irony that His celebration is the cause of pollution. Wish you all the success in this initiative.
September 8th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Dear Devotees
It is indeed a great step to educate people that the festival has been causing harm to ecology. It is to be realised that this is not the only festival that has been a bane to the ecology.
Take for instance any festival. It is mandatory to adorn the doors with mango leaves, as is the custom in South India Region, mainly. How many trees or the branches are shed for every fetival can only be a guess.
A fair assumption is that a family needs for every festival about 40 leaves and four branch-lets to adorn the door, and for Pooja decoration. It is fair to guess that to meet the needs of 3 to 4 thousand families who follow the customs of the festival, one tree has to be shed off of its leaves, totally.
Can we changing the customs to save these trees and for the sake of our future generations.
It is not the mango tree alone that is butchered. The Neem, Banana plants, Goosberry trees, ‘Shami’ trees, ‘Bilva Tree’, ‘Muttuga’ Tree, cocoanut trees, Ekka (Arka) plant, Tulasi Plant, and many other trees and plants are mercilessly hecked for observing the rituals.
Let us be sensible and think for a while to find if life is going to be bad due to curse by God for not observing the rituals, to protect the environment.
Certainly not and It is going to be whatever that happens to those who have no such rituals in their custom shall only happen to us also.
Can we do some damage control at least at this stage and teach our kids not to adopt to such customs in future?
Please help save our environment through supporting the nature to flourish than to perish
Om tat sat.
Ramu
July 27th, 2010 at 10:51 am
namaste,
excellent concept and hats for the initiative. we need such more Eco-friendly celebrations. ganga, kashi, pampa are polluted only due to over dependence and exploitation of our traditional ritual practices. in the name of we are making harm to biosphere. so, all Eco-friendly projects and all such of nature enthusiastic approaches are congratulated.
i am a lecturer by profession, always advice my students to be Eco-friendly in all aspects of life. i will tel about this website and this concepts too so that our true way of worship should be favoring ecological conservation.
rajesh padmar, bengaluru