Green Kids

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Two news items in DC today (Independence Day) took me back to my childhood in my Village in the early 1950s:

1. (with photo) "Students campaign for eco-friendly idols":

Ganesh Puja will be here presently. The photo shows a group of school kids each showing off a clay-Ganeshjee in their hands. Apparently there is a thing here called National Green Corps of over three lakh school kid volunteers promoting its ideals.

It is almost like going round a circle and getting to the beginning.

On Ganesh Chathurthi every year, a dozen of us youngsters used to wake up before dawn and trek to the woods hunting for patri (leaves) and phool (flowers) of 21 varities each.

And on our return, we used to buy for next to nothing a clay idol each from a roadside vendor. The idol was almost wet and we had to dry it in the sun for an hour.

The clay (mud) used to be collected from the Village Tank bottom, cleaned and all that one had to do was to keep it in a 'press' (die) and squeeze out the water. Presses used to be sold cheap and if you could buy one, you have your own home-made Ganeshjee. There were no frills...just an elephant's head and human torso, with a mouse beside.

The day after the Puja, we used to go forth again in a batch to the tank and drop the idol in it. The only thing is that after the Puja, the idol looked almost alive, what with the various patri, phool, kumkum, haldi, cotton dress, decorated forehead...almost like the Durgamai on Vijayadasami (so full of life).

While till last year in Hyderabad, the idols were as hard as cement painted with rainbow colors and...gaudy...and costly...

The Puja made them look worse...

2. "Swadeshi soap worries MNCs"

"...Mahatma Gandhi used a handful of salt to shake an empire in 1930. Now, the humble toilet soap 'Swadeshi' of the Gandhi Centre for Rural Development is giving the shivers to multinationals..."

Apparently there is a boom (almost 26% of the soap market) in Kerala for the Swadeshi soap. Around 1 lakh people across the state are making Swadeshi soaps in their homes with raw materials supplied by the GCRD. They are made from coconut oil from the coconut trees for which Kerala is renowned. They use natural perfumes and retain the glycerin, leaving the skin feeling smooth after a bath.

Well, in our Village there were no soaps at all...Videshi or Swadeshi.

But I can proudly say that some of my lady cousins had the most fabulous skin-glow that comes only from great health and upkeep.

They had only home-made cleansers. First they would apply liberal doses of pure til (sesame) oil all over their skin and let it soak for 15 minutes. Then they would apply a home-made powder whose precise composition is a family secret. I guess the main ingredient of the powder is dal (green gram with skin). And maybe a bit of rice. And several perfumed roots. And haldi (turmeric) sticks. All of these are dry-ground.

This powder soaks the oil and diffuses into the skin. And after rubbing it on their skins they cleanse themselves with buckets of warm water.

There was no shampoo...only 'soapnut juice' (it burns the eyes if you don't close them).

Time that secrets are let out and commercial products are launched...but I guess the formulas are as extinct as our great-grand-parents...

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