AN ECO FREINDLY MARRIAGE: Did you hear about this marriage ceremony?

Can a marriage ceremony be eco friendly? Yes, read on.

By India Input desk

Almost every invitation card ends up as waste in garbage bin. It then lands in some soil. Right?

The invitation card for this particular marriage ceremony was printed on a special environment friendly handmade paper. This paper is unique because it carries within it, seeds of flowers or veggies that are likely to germinate when thrown out in the soil.

This paper is produced using farm produced organic material including cow dung, cow urine etc.

Really ECO FRIENDLY!

No wasteful expenditure

Wasteful expenditure on expensive sarees was done away by upcycling old Paithani sarees into trendy clothes and other useful material.

REAL ECO FRIENDLY: No plastic

Use of plastic was avoided by both the families. There was no plastic used by the caterer and the decorator. The stage decoration displayed imaginative use of paper flowers and leaves. Real flowers were not used in Sapta-padi and elsewhere. They were replaced by reusable woolen asanas.

And despite all this, three bags full of plastic, as covers or wrapping material, was collected after shopping and during the marriage ceremony. They were either sent to recycling or were used as ‘eco bricks’. A small used plastic bottle or  box becomes an ‘eco brick’ when it is packed with another 350 gm of non recyclable plastic cramped and thrust inside. It is estimated that each of such eco bricks saves about one thousand square feet area from contamination and subsequent pollution. These eco bricks are used in making cost effective garden furniture, tree guards and other innovative outdoor decoration.

Unusual, right? These are some of the glimpses from a simple marriage ceremony held on Sunday, 21st November 2021 in Nagpur.

The message 

The gifts to the new couple included a miniature ‘model house’ specially created displaying five prominent features in a present day household. These include the use of renewable energy through the solar rooftop, use of water conservation measures, the nature friendly composting model for the kitchen waste, a model kitchen garden and not to forget a reserved place for birds with some food grains and water.

The main attraction of the ceremony was obviously the couple getting married..the bride Jui Pandharipande and the groom Nahush Sahastrabuddhe. However, the focus of attention was the highlighted message, much relevant today, the need for the actual implementation of the hard necessity of life. In brief, ‘Say no to plastic and yes to recycle, upcycle and being nature compliant.’

The bride’s father Makarand Pandharipande, a renowned educationist himself, says, – Our traditional Vedic hymns that are recited during the wedding rituals are all about praying and worshipping the mother nature. A specially written ‘Sapta-padi’ in marathi was also recited during this ceremony to make the point clearer. When the marriage rituals were solemnized, the new couple worshipped a ‘Tulsi Vrindavan’ and carried it to their new home.

Why not me?’

The entire idea was  conceived by the bride Jui, a Nagpur based lecturer and an internationally known

environment activist, who also has an MSc in environmental science, is doing her PhD thesis on Solid waste management and heads the solid waste management wing in Paryavaran Gatividhi. Shri Makarand Pandharipande says about his daughter, – She always lamented the fact that though everyone is aware about the ongoing environmental crisis, solid waste management crisis, the pollution, the global warming etc and knows what ought to be done to address these issues, there remains a huge lack of implementation and the need of the hour was someone to initiate by saying, ‘Why not me?’

So, she shared the idea with others and announced that she wanted herself to implement what she had been talking about in all her workshops.

And it is a well proven fact, that all the good ideas become better, upon implementation !

(images; Pandharipande family, Nagpur)