The earth heaves under 1.3 billion tonnes of waste each year, the water turns sluggish with up to 90% of untreated waste being pumped into it, and each year an immeasurable number of people get diseases caused by our wasteful, pollution-ridden lifestyle. So when a few individuals decide to go plastic-free or choose organic, it’s never really a eureka moment that results in short-term or sporadic changes. Instead, it’s a carefully thought-through choice that impacts their own lives, that of their family’s and, the earth’s itself. Most people say that the change is a constant effort to practise their core beliefs.
Gauri Jayaram,
Bengaluru, cycles to work
HYDERABAD, ANDHRA PRADESH, 27-09-2013: Author, Gauri Jayaram during the 'Wise Enough to be Foolosh' book release in Hyderabad on Friday. PHOTO: K_RAMESH BABU
When Gauri Jayaram turned 40, she decided to gift herself a trek to the Everest Base Camp. It was there she discovered something — she was able to live perfectly well out of a single bag. It shifted something in her, she says. So, “I decided to quit my job and set up my company,” says the founder of the Bengaluru-based Active Holiday Company.
Wanting to not just live a minimalistic life, but a more active one, she replaced her Honda City with a bicycle and began cycling to work every day. Already a runner, it not only gave her a great cross-training opportunity, but was also a “great way to get your daily dose of zen. I reach office feeling ready to take on the world,” she says.
Another advantage — carrying a cycling helmet into a business meeting is a great way to break the ice, laughs Jayaram, who has been doing this since 2012. Then there is the absence of fuel or cab bills and the knowledge that you’ve done your bit towards reducing the carbon footprint, she says. On the flip side however, “The pollution is incredible, the general traffic sense makes it a safety hazard, and yes, as much as I love the rains, I can’t cycle through them — it’s not easy or safe,” says Jayaram, who makes it a point to wear a helmet and ID band with emergency contact when she cycles.
Baskar Subramanian,
Bengaluru, uses solar power at home
For Baskar Subramanian, co-founder of the Bengaluru-based Amagi, Broadcast Solutions, using solar power to fuel his home is absolutely logical because, “we have so much sunlight that it would be silly not to leverage it,” he says.
And he does. His homestead, part of a commune of sorts located on the outskirts of the city (Kanakapura Road) is completely run on solar power. “We bake a lot at home — so even our ovens are run on it,” says Subramanian, adding that he has installed large solar panels on his rooftop to capture all that energy. Going off the power grid has made him more conscious about preserving this energy, he laughs. “Earlier, I was never sensitive about switching off lights,” says Subramanian, who also harvests and recycles water.
His house is located and has been built in such a way that one can leverage natural light and avoid using an air conditioner (he doesn’t). His home is part of a farm community on a 40-acre campus with plenty of trees. “We have huge windows and doors and the whole house is almost open, so it’s very breezy and comfortable.” Perhaps the only drawback is that the complexity of the system means that when things go wrong it becomes harder to fix. “Both my wife and I are engineers — so we have learnt how to manage. My mother, who stays with me, however, struggles sometimes,” he says.
But the struggle is worth it, he says, if it means reducing their carbon footprint and driving a message of sustainability. “Plants and animals have survived on solar power for so many years — I don’t see why we can’t,” he says.
Richard Paiva and Nupur Dhingra Paiva,
Delhi, eat only organic produce
Through reports in the press, the couple learnt about the harm that fertilisers, insecticides and pesticides did, the way they entered the soil and water, leaving the body exposed to cancer-causing chemicals through the food we eat. “The effect of antibiotics and oestrogen in milk was especially disturbing, since we have two daughters, 8 and 5,” says Nupur. A couple of years ago, they decided to change to organic food. In winter, they try and grow their own greens on their rooftop garden.
“In India, we still haven’t developed a full-blown consciousness of what it really means to live an organic life, and it’s a continuous effort,” says Richard. The couple feels it links back to what they do by way of a profession: coaching young girls in football through overall development and group therapy, with their company, The Art of Sport. “Nutrition plays a very important role in the awareness process,” he says. And while they swear that their veggies are that much tastier, fruit can be dauntingly expensive. It’s worth it though. “You eat well, you sleep well, you play better — it’s as simple as that. Which is why they take the girls to an organic farm in Surajkund, Haryana, “to see that an onion can take 90 days to grow when not interfered with.” That, and because overall development includes your interaction with the world.
Ashavari Majumdar,
Kolkata, gave up soap and shampoo
Karnataka : Bengaluru : 25-02-2015 :Kathak Dancer Ashari Majumdar an interaction with The Hindu in Bengaluru on Thursday. Photo : Sudhakara Jain.
Somewhere in 2012, Ashavari says her instincts and her family’s tradition in following Ayurvedic principles led her to stop buying soap and shampoo. The chemicals in them simply didn’t work when she thought of the damage they were causing to her health and the earth (the chemicals find their way into water and even pose a risk to marine life). “I used to have a dandruff problem, but I don’t any more,” she says. In fact, a couple of years ago, when her daughter was born, she continued using shikakai and ubtan on the baby.
Her washing agent is sans detergent too. “You get these products at most organic stores,” she says. “It is one more step because shikakai, for instance, is a powder that needs to be mixed in water and it’s brown, so we do need to clean up the bathroom a bit after, but it’s worth it, for both the environment and our health,” she says. She also completely went the cloth diaper way for her first baby, imagining landfills with 1000s of diapers her family would possibly put out there. She’s given in to the convenience for her second child, but only at night. “Neither of my children has had diaper rash, because cloth is so much healthier.” All these changes are a part of her identity as a Kathak dancer, because you live out what you do.
