Oct 252013
 

Celebrating a Green Diwali – Reusing Old Diyas For Diwali

Diwali is around the corner, the biggest festival in India, celebrated by the majority of India in a big way. We will all light Diyas and candles, burn crackers and exchange gifts. But like most festivals in India be it Ganesha Chaturthi, Durga Puja or Kumbh Mela, Diwali also leaves a trail of destruction, pollution, and garbage around us, all in the name of celebration.

I  always try to make my travels and life as green as possible in today’s age of fossil fuels. So from celebrating Green Ganesha to eco-friendly Holi, this year we decided to make our Diwali also as green as possible. I was discussing with my wife what we can do? One small step that we decided was to reuse the Diyas from last year. Now I know Diwali is the festival when we buy almost everything new, from clothes to a TV to new lights and utensils, but there is one thing that we cannot buy new and that is our Planet Earth. Those who believe in too many omens during festivals may not like this, but those who truly care about mother earth will understand our motive behind the same. I am all for celebrating a Green Diwali what about you?

camel shape earthen Diyas For Diwali

Last year’s Diyas on a Camel and Elephant

Irrespective of all the science and space research we are yet to find another planet that can support life. Even if we find it I doubt we will be able to go there anytime soon. So till then, we have only our mother earth and her limited resources. I don’t remember where I read

“Earth has enough for every man’s need, but not for every man’s greed”

So here I request all desi Traveler readers to think about a green Diwali. While I had grandiose plans to call a meeting in our society and give a lecture and educate everybody else about the merits of green Diwali, the Missus just got to work and showed me that first step in the direction.

Old Diya Earthen Lamp Green Diwali

Old Diyas -Ready for a makeover

She took out last year’s old Diyas (earthen lamps) and dusted and cleaned then borrowed some paint from the kids, who were very happy to help their mom in painting, and voila we have brand new Diyas.  The money spent? 10 Rs for the small amount of paint that she used from kids color box that was already present in-house. Total time spent was about an hour, and that too because I was clicking pictures in between and disturbing her. (All pictures were taken by cell phone)

Painting Diyas for a Green Diwali

Painting Diyas- Giving them a new life

Diya Painting for Diwali

Diya Painting for Diwali- Recycling is Pro Planet

Diya painting Diwali

As good as new- Diyas Painted for Diwali

Camel and Elephant shaped Diyas Diwali Earthen lamps

Camel and Elephant shaped Diyas: Ready for one more year of service

Hand painted Diyas for Green Diwali Earthen Lamps

Ready For Diwali: Beautiful hand painted Diyas

So what do you say? I know it is not much but just imagine a billion people switching to a green Diwali and we have a lot. Want to celebrate a Green Diwali? What are your ideas for a green, pro-planet Diwali? Please do share in the comments.

If you have liked reading the post please feel free to subscribe by email and like it or share it with your friends on FacebookLinkedInTwitter and Google+ .

I promise that I will not sell, rent, or donate your email to anybody

    🙂 🙂 🙂

  14 Responses to “New Life for Old Diyas For Diwali – Going for a Green Diwali”

Comments (14)
  1. Interesting tip to turn Diwali a greener one. Thanks for the info.

  2. Wow Prasad, great thoughts in here. Well, will surely gonna make this read to my family too and help all of us understand and respect such small but effective things midst this festival. BTW, nicely colored 🙂

  3. Nice!! Acrylic paint?

  4. That is such a nice idea. Let me see if I cam implement it for the next year.

  5. That is so creative!
    Happy Diwali!

  6. that is a nice thing to do 🙂

  7. Great idea!
    My suggestion for a greener Diwali would be a ban on noise- and air-polluting fireworks. (But I don’t suppose that’ll fly.)

    • Crackers is next on my list to reduce them as much as possible… thanks

      • Thats an awesm idea i to would do th same.Can we nt bury these diyas in soil provided its ok and buy new ones as th ppl selling diyas on roadside are really in need of money i knw we shldnt buy from fancy shops but the money we give thm is their money for food.

Dear fellow traveler welcome to desi Traveler, I am excited to have you here, please share your thoughts and I will be very happy to reply. Please check our Blog Comment Policy. All comments are moderated and urls in comments end in spam automatically. Happy travels.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.