Article about the campaign in Bombay times- 2013

Hello all,

Here's an article that was published in Bombay times (The New BOmbay segment) on page 8 on 14th September 2013. Sadly no mention about the blog which had all the decorations or the website- www.greenbappa.in was given.

We had put in a lot of hard work to give the info in the website, it would have given a surge to the number of visitors on the website. The journalist said that the newspaper policy does not permit them to give contact info. How is a not-for-profit website of a campaign fit in their criteria of not giving the contact that will help commercially? We are not a commercial site anyways. Another jolt was that the article wasnt there in the e-paper of BT in the TOI site as this was only printed in New Bombay therefore it wasnt uploaded.

I really dont know what to do about these journalists anymore. They come during the festival season, speak sweetly about giving details of your campaign. I entertain them just because more people will end up coming on the facebook page and the site/blog. After weeks of following up with them, the article gets printed when the advertisements in the page permits. I see some of the most crucial information missing. Another article was published by a journalist in Hindustan times Mulund edition, which was so badly written that I dont even want to post it here. The journalist gave my contact information in the article. Who gave her the permission to do so?

This is how these journalists work. And this cycle gets repeated all over the next year. Nothing I can do much about. Anyways, here's the article. View the photo in fullscreen so that you can read it. or download it.

Cardboard Ganpati Makhar

Cardboard Makhar for Ganesh Chaturthi.

 Materials required:

1.       Cardboard sheet- There is one type of cardboard called File paper. Use that as it is thin for making the pillars. Rs. 18 X2= Rs.36

2.       A small waste cardboard box for the stand and a big waste cardboard sheet for the Makhar ceiling.

3.       Fevicol - Rs. 30

4.       Ruler

5.       Scissors

6.       Cutter

7.       Pencil and eraser

8.       Decorative paper or handmade paper. Rs. 30-40

9.       Waste newspaper.

10.   Paints for decorating.

11.   Acrylic colour of your choice.  Rs. 18

12.   Painting brush

13.   Small stones to help balance the pillars

       Total cost = Rs. 124

Process:

1.       Take the File paper, divide it into half.

2.       Keep the height as it is, which might be 15 inches and make 8 divisions about 4 cm apart using the ruler. This would be our marking for folding the sheet.

   

3.       Take the help of the ruler and guide the scissor or the cutter along the lines drawn 4 cm apart to make indents. Make sure you don’t slice the file paper fully. We just have to make the indents so that we can fold it. 

4.       Now fold the sheet along the indents. Make sure you don’t break the sheet.

5.       After the Pillar is ready, use fevicol to paste the two parts of the Septagon together. Make another one similarly.

                     

6.       Now take the small cardboard box and place the pillars which are ready on top to see if they will fit into it. Otherwise you will have to get some other bigger box. 

7.       Divide the box into half. Place the pillar on top of it and draw out its edges. Cut the shape drawn using a cutter.

8.       Do this for both boxes.

9.       Now fit the pillars inside the boxes.

         

10.       First make an estimate of the length of the makhar ceiling that you are going to make. Make any design you wish for the makhar on a sheet of newspaper, make only half of it. Cut it. 

1.       Now take the bigger waste cardboard sheet.  Make an estimate of whether the stencil of the makhar is going to fit on both side of the cardboard. Trace the design on one half of the cardboard.  Invert the design and trace it on the other side. It has to be an exact match. 

12.       Cut the design. Now keep the cardboard cutout on the decorative paper. Trace it. Cut the paper and paste it on the cardboard using fevicol. 

       

13.       Now take the waste scrap from the decorative paper, cut a design out of it which can be pasted on the pillars. Fold it in such a way that only the edge of the design can be stuck to the pillar. Use fevicol to stick it.

14.       If you wish, draw some designs on the pillars, paint it.

15.       Make some more designs from the scrap paper, stick it on the pillars. (On hindsight, take another sheet of decorative paper, stick it to the pillars entirely, cover the pillars with the paper. Then make designs on them.)

16.       Use all the waste scrap of decorative paper and stick it on the boxes stuck to the pillars at the bottom. Cover them completely. Its ok if they look untidy in the beginning, use scissors to give shape and flatten the small bits. 

                                      

                     

17.        Now draw any design you like on the makhar ceiling using a pencil. You can even make a stencil and then paint the designs on the makhar instead of using the pencil.

18.       Use acrylic colour to paint the design.

19.       The makhar ceiling is now ready.

20. Take the pillars, keep the makhar ceiling on the pillars to estimate the place where it will fit and make a small cut on the front side of the pillar to insert the makhar edge in it.

21.       Do this on both pillars and insert the makhar edge in the pillars.

22.  Now the decoration is ready. After the makhar ceiling is inserted, the pillars may wobble. Put some stones in the boxes in the bottom of the pillars to give it strength.

23.       Now you can put your Ganesha in the decoration. 

Tip: Put the Ganesha on inside the Makhar only after the Puja is complete. 

                                               
                                             

See the second design for our eco-friendly decorations we made in 2013 here 

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Black sun design

Process for the black sun design:

Materials reqired:

1.       Black tinted paper- Rs.12

2.       Fevicol tube-            Rs. 40

3.       Acrylic colours yellow and orange- Rs. 36

4.       Cardboard-              Rs. 20

 Total- Rs.106

Process:

1.       Take the black paper, paste it on a cardboard which will give it a thicker look while hanging it/ pasting it on the wall.

2.       Take the black paper, draw a big enough circle as per your wish. Use a geometric compass to make the circle.

3.       Use a pencil to draw the flaming rays of the sun outlining the circle.

4.       Make rays of differing sizes and lengths.

5.       Take the fevicol tube, open it. Add a few drops of yellow acrylic colour and orange colour in it.

6.       Otherwise, just add yellow drops in the bottle and add organge drops in the cap of the tube.

7.       Carefully, from the centre of the circle, start drawing concentric circles continuously from the fevicol tube.

8.       If there are some droplets from the nozzle dropping on the paper when you start again, its ok, don’t worry about it. It will add to the design.

9.       When you see the colour reducing and only the ‘whiteness’ of the fevicol showing, open the bottle and add a few drops of colour again.

10.   You can accentuate the colours again by drawing the circles on top of the earlier ones, giving it a denser look in some areas of the circle.

11.   Be careful that you don’t touch the design drawn on the paper.

12.   Now draw the rays in the same way.

13.   After the design dries, cut it.

14.   The design is now ready.

15.   Now you can hang it/ paste it on the wall behind your Ganesha.

See the second design for our eco-friendly decorations we made in 2013 here