naughty guy

today is Raksha Bandhan. I stayed at home throughout the day working. anyway, as a Bengali, this festival is not something I look forward to considering my cousins are in Kolkata and importance is laid upon Bhai Doojh far more than this one as a celebration. the cute little episode that I want to share takes us back many years when I was probably in my second or third standard. this day was special not because of the relationships (I was dumb, yuck! that sucks...) but the lovely rakhis on the wrist instead. there were times when I wouldn’t have one and dada (my elder brother) would have many on his wrist(s). I used to envy him.

I recalled this funny experience today during the day out of nowhere and a naughty smile crossed my lips. now, I know how lucky I was then. wish I had the head to use the opportunity as a weapon to woo many… kash!

Allowing them to bloom

Socio-business-environmental approach

Hotels use lots of flowers। At a few ITC hotels, instead of throwing these flowers on a daily basis, they are passed on to an NGO it has tied up with। The NGO after collecting it from the hotels, drop them at the doorsteps of people with multiple disabilities with their capabilities restricted to separating petals from the stem of the plant part the whole day। These petals so separated are collected and sent to concern authorities for extraction of organic colours from it, which are sold to the textile industry.

In this way, not only wastes (wilting flowers) are converted into environment friendly colours but in the process pass on the benefits to the people with multi functional disabilities. This is being practiced at ITC Maurya and Sheraton Hotel in New Delhi as pilot project. This initiative is earning the differently abled people Rs 1800 a month, which is also giving them a dignified reason to live on. The project has also been taken up by India Habitat Centre and a few more hotels for the good of the society.