Articles by Vinita

Children of Government Kannada Lower Primary School, Kattigenahalli (Yelahanka Post) decided they had had enough. Potable drinking water at school had been a problem for them for a long time now. They approached their neighbours – Astra Zeneca. In a couple of days, they had a water filter donated and installed. On the other side of town, children from RV Public School, VV Puram Bangalore were bothered by the chronic shortage of blood for emergency procedures. They launched a door-to-door awareness campaign to explore popular myths, and misconceptions about blood donation. The children persevered even when professionals and educated citizens…

There are those who use plastic bags (saying they had little choice), those who re-use plastic bags and then those who refuse plastic bags. Or so I thought, till I met Trupti Godbole and heard of the work she was involved with in her neighbourhood.Two years ago, as part of the Republic Day celebrations organised by their Residents' Welfare Association – Uthkarsh - Trupti and her neighbour Sarita Kotagiri listened to the invitee speaker P Venkatramanan of RISE (a resident association in Indiranagar) talk about the menace and danger of using plastic bags. Shocked to hear that on an average,…

It was recently announced in the media that residents of Pune would face a significant water cut (20-30%) as the dams supplying water to the city have only enough to last for about 15-18 days. Shocking and scary, to say the least. But then again, it should come as no surprise, given the way we consume water in urban India. 135 litres. That is the official per capita consumption of water per day in urban India, says S Vishwanath, Founder, Rainwater Club. A rough break-up of this reveals just how easily we manage this:  40 litres for flushing ; 20…

On 20th March this year, TiE Bangalore presented the TiE Earth Hour celebration, a prelude to celebrating Earth Hour (a worldwide eco-initiative held on 28th March between 8.30 PM and 9.30 PM IST). Organised by the TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) Bangalore Special Interest Group (SIG) on CleanTech, the programme began with a brief introduction by Ashok Das who has co-established and spearheads CleanTech SIG. Das is also the CEO of SunMoksha Power that designs and implements solar applications and solutions. CleanTech SIG was launched in June 2008 with the aim of establishing an ecosystem for clean technology and to provide…

Disgustingly Cool Books for Kids. Hearing the title, I was certainly curious to know more. I decided to meet Poonam Bir Kasturi (founder of Daily Dump, which offers home composting solutions in Bengaluru through a range of services and products), the person responsible for these publications. The sleek set of five booklets, published by Daily Dump, introduces concepts of environment-friendliness, waste, sustainability, consumerism et cetera to children in an interesting and engaging manner. Disgustingly Cool books for kids (Pic: Vinitha) Poonam firmly believes product design must always intersect with sustainability. The primary design consideration for this set of books was…

Bangalore does not have the most conducive environment for persons with respiratory complaints. How serious this was struck me only when my little one started having bouts of wheezing, at just 9 months of age. In my anxiety I visited a pulmonologist and even started administering an inhaler. It was only a few weeks later that I checked myself and wondered if an alternate remedy was possible. Colius Aromaticus (pic: Meera K) And then as I started searching for more natural and homemade remedies for common ailments, I realised what a treasure trove (rather, a medicine chest?!) I had right…

There is something about the notion of composting that really excites me. Just think of it – with just a simple change of container (a composter/compost pit instead of dustbin), there's a whole new world that opens up! However I had always shied away from actually trying my hand at it – I imagined composting to be complicated and tedious, not to mention messy and unhygienic. I am embarrassed to say I was looking for a quick-fix solution, you see! Composting involves decomposing kitchen and garden waste and other bio degradable matter to make an earthy, dark, crumbly substance that…

Here I was merrily plucking tomatoes from my garden as and when i needed them in the kitchen, till S – our domestic help - told me that she had just bought it for 40 rupees a kilo in Russell Market?! FORTY?! I resolved to tend to my garden with greater care and gratitude! 'The garden' has always been integral to my growing years and it was only a matter of time before I started my own. So, ever since we moved to our place earlier this year, I experimented with various methods in the endeavour to make my garden…

In my search to find a method to recycle grey water from the washing machine, I chanced upon an exciting alternative to detergents: Soap Nut (Sapindus Mukorossi, locally called  Ritha or soap kai). Of course, it is not something new – our grandparents and parents have used it frequently to wash silks and expensive garments. However, in today's scenario, I think this little nut has a vital role to play.  Most significantly, washing with soap nut does not pollute the water like the detergents. It also conserves water while using the washing machine since there's no soapy residue to rinse…

It's been a month now and I still can't stop myself from rushing to the terrace in the morning, after a night of heavy rain. After several months of seeking ways (unsuccessfully!) to harvest rainwater for our apartment, we had arrived at an elementary solution. Most local experts whose advice and opinion we sought were unable to help. Even the internet tips were of little use since they dealt with individual houses and/or entire apartment buildings. Though our terrace is fairly large, we realised that the catchment area (the area which directly receives the rainfall and provides water to the…