Mithun Chakravarthy, a teacher pushes two carts filled with what looks like discarded leaves, bark and coconut shells into position and prepares for a demo at the WOW (Wealth out of Waste) exhibition organised at the Brookefields Mall in its atrium. The Mall has organised the event in association with Chinmaya Vidyalaya. Curious shoppers gather around as Mithun fashions a figure out of the waste. He mostly uses parts of the coconut tree and some glue. The figure takes shape with a head and limbs and he is watched closely by Hari Krishnasamy, a class IV student of CS Academy who is trying to copy him step by step.“I will make and gift a few to my friends in school. They are quite easy to make,” he says.
NA Sujatha, marketing manager of the mall says the idea of an exhibition came to her when she was invited to judge a ‘Wealth from Waste’ competition organised for teachers of Chinmaya Vidyala. “I was blown away by what I saw and requested them to display what they had made here,”she says.
The Wealth from Waste workshop and competition at the school was organised as something fun to do for the teachers, says Meera Jackson, principal, Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vadavalli. “There are regular workshops for teachers and this time I decided to have a fun, stress busting session prior to the school re-opening,” she explains. The person who conducted the workshop for them was Umapathy from Puducherry. “He was discovered by The Chinmaya Mission as a street artist many years ago. The foundation helped him develop his talent and now he works in a government school at Puducherry. He organises regular workshops,” she says. The teachers collected the raw materials from a nearby farm for the event.
Insects, scenes from village life and animals are just few of the creations made out of waste. There are camels made with a combination of tiny tender coconuts and bamboo sticks; peacocks fashioned out of ice-cream sticks;birds’ nest with birdlings inside and even a dengue mosquito! The mosquito faces an empty coconut that is cut open on top. “It conveys the message that mosquitoes breed where water stagnates. We made its wings with pieces cut from an aracanut leaf plate and used poomaarai to form its legs,” says teacher Manjula Devi K.
Bicycles made of cotton yarn, men playing musical instruments, wall hangings made of empty glue bottles, photo frames...Archana S, a teacher says that she was sceptical when Umapathy first told them how waste could be transformed. “It was only after a demonstration that I was convinced. I could never even have thought of such possibilities,” she laughs.
