Don’t dump the dung. Once popularly used as a cooking fuel especially in rural India, imagination and effort can literally convert pieces of waste into pieces of art.

Shweta Paliwal of Gaurang Kala Kendra, has taken the initiative to send a Rakhi made of eco-firendly dung to PM Narendra Modi on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan. She has learnt the art of using dung to make rakhis, idols and other items a year ago. This year she started selling these artefacts.

She said, "Following the Covid crisis, I have decided to wish PM Modi in my way by sending him a rakhi." She said this art of creating items with cow dung will help restore the nature. She also adds Tulsi seeds to the ingredients while mixing the stuff so that when the idol(s) get dissolved in water and mud, tulsi saplings can grow from there. She also uses natural colours but due to lockdown she has used acrylic paint.

Shweta and her mother have made around 250 idols of lord Ganesh and a few hundreds of Rakhis on the basis of orders she received. The price of a three-inch idol is Rs 300 and with the size, the prize increases. A 9-inch Ganesh idol will cost anything between Rs 900 and Rs 1500.

PROCESSING

She uses cow dung and a binding agent called Premix to strengthen the item before giving it a shape.

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