When 37-year-old artist Minal Lele faced the task of devising an environmental-friendly corporate gift this Diwali, she came up with a colourful idea. A resident of Kalyan, Lele designed a rangoli made of Medium Density Fibreboards (MDF) that could be gift wrapped.

“My brief was to stick to the Diwali theme and to keep it environmentally friendly. So I came up with this model of rangoli in seven pieces along with decorative diyas,” said Lele. The seven parts facilitate packing and when assembled, takes the form of a floral pattern with six petals set in red velvet surrounding the central portion.

“Our firm wanted to distribute a theme based eco-friendly gift and what has been designed by Lele perfectly fits our bill,” said Indramohan Virmani of Hummingbird Logistics.

When the prototype was ready, Lele got it manufactured through a Women Self-Help Group associated with non-government organization Aadhar at Vile Parle. “After being trained, the women from the self-help group became adept at this task and could deliver at a short notice,” said Lele.

Lele’s concern for environment had attracted like-minded people earlier. Rajlaxmi Pujare (28) and Sujata Kadam (28) joined Lele on environment friendly Ganesh idols. With paper pulp and clay as the ingredients, the group initially experimented and came up with the right combination to make idols that would not pollute the water after immersion. In 2008 the trio had made 35 Ganesh idols and this year they made 250 idols ranging from 6 inches to 2.5 foot. “The immersion of Ganesh idols made from plaster of Paris adversely affects our ecosystem. This is our small initiative to create awareness among people regarding environment,” said Lele. Due to shortage of manpower, these women are busy making eco-friendly Ganesh idols all year round.

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