6 Simple ways to Celebrate Green Diwali

Everybody talks about Green Diwali....but few of us read about this topic because we all are fond of celebrating Diwali with crackers. In fact, word ‘Diwali’ reminds us the display of colorful fireworks in the dark sky.

Here, I’m not going to count on the affects of crackers on environment or its ill-effects on your health. Instead, I will tell you the ways of celebrating healthy diwali by taking simple measures:

Let’s start with diwali gifts that you purchase for your near and dear ones to cheer them up. If possible, pack the gift with recycled paper which is easily available in market. You can also use gift papers made up of newspaper. Newspapers, Na.. You are talking old stuff buddy. NO its not outdated, Let me tell you a simple way to make beautiful gift paper with Newspaper:

1. Take a cardboard. Cut it into the shape of your gift-its surface (if gift’s surface is rectangular, like most of the chocolate boxes, then, make it rectangular or if it is circular then cut cardboard into a circle)
2. Take Newspaper and crush it.
3. Cover the entire piece of cardboard (cut in desired shape) with crushed newspaper.
4. Use tape and paste it on the cardboard.
5. Now apply glue on newspaper and paste 2-3 layers of tissue papers. You will find a hard surface now. It appears like a stone.
6. Color it with Acrylic colors. You can also use water colors but remember Acrylic colors are shinny and perfect for gift items.
7. Cover the other five sides of gift (if it is rectangular) with colored newspaper (you can color double piece of newspaper with any acrylic color. Sides would not look ugly because sides will be covered by the big surface made up of crushed newspapers.

This way you can make very different and trendy gift paper and showcase your creativity as well. In fact, it would not take much time. Another good idea is to use old cotton cloth. Stretch it and cover your gift. Then, use your creativity and decorate it with colors.

Not only gift papers, you can also decorate diyaas which add a lot to the pollution level. Do you know, Diyaas lit by oil release harmful gases. So, it is advisable to use wax diyaas.
But at the same time, it is important to use earthen Diyaas because they are bio-degradable.

Best way to prepare wax diyas is to:

1. Take earthen diyaas which are easily available in the market and that too at reasonably price.
2. Take wax. You can purchase it from the market or you can start collecting it from the candles that you use when there are long power cuts in your area, especially in summer.
3. Take the collected wax in a pan. Heat it and melt.
4. Pour it into Earthen Diyaas. Let it dry.
5. Now you can decorate it with anything ranging from acrylic colors to golden paper or silver stars made up of recycled stuff.

But, don’t use wax made up of chemicals because that also adds to the air pollution. So, best practice is to use beeswax.

For rangoli that adds colorful charm to this festival, you can use colored rice or pulses, flower petals or colored sand instead of synthetic colors. Colored sand would make your rangoli extraordinarily beautiful and different. You can spray little water on sand Rangoli to avoid blowing.

For lightning that consumes almost half of the city’s electricity in Diwali season, go for ‘aakash kandeel’ or paper lanterns made up of handmade paper. Hang them in you balcony to reduce the consumption of electricity. The easiest way to make a paper lantern at home is to take a stylish paper bag and then place candle in it. You can also use old and crushed paper bags as they look more classy. You can use any thing to hold the candle in between the bag. Say, for instance, you can use the other side of ‘Agarbatti’ holder. Bamboo sticks, clothes or ice-cream sticks are best options to give your ‘Kandeel’ a funky shapes.

Don’t throw the ‘Pooja Samagri’ or flowers, colors and other material used in Diwali poojan in rivers or ponds. Dustbins are better option in fact.

It is better to carry jute or paper bags when you go out for diwali shopping. Otherwise, you will buy a stock of plastic bags and they would finally add up to plastic consumption.

Hope more and more readers go through the above content and put in little effort to protect our planet...

By Shilpy Arora