ENARADA, Bengaluru, January 28, 2016
A boy carrying a gunny bag entered Press Club. As he dumped the bag on the ground, one could see only thrash items. Everyone was wondering as to why he was doing so. In minutes, he was joined by his school mates, who quickly picked up the thrash and in a few minutes, the entire WASTE was converted into WEALTH. If you are wondering what was unfolding? This was the way, the students of Government higher primary School, Kurubarahalli, Bengaluru demonstrated as to how the thrash could be reduced in Bengaluru and instead it be converted into Art.
Items picked from dark spots: Converted as
• Plastic Carry bags – different type of flowers, designer balls, garland & threshold decoration.
• Discs-Tissue paper holder, Side hanging, Rangoli, car hanging, Photo Frame & Floating lamp
• Plastic Water bottles-Hanging pots, nests, flower vases & candle stand
• Pamphlets/waste paper-butterfly models, pen stand, Pom Pom Flowers, vase, medicine box, lamp shade, paper bowl & artificial flowers
• Coconut shell-Fancy hanging, turtle models, hanging pots & salt dispensers
• Gift wrapper – Flowers, hanging balls.
• Paper plates- cone flowers & hanging lamp shade
• Plastic Buntings- flower garlands & artificial flowers.
• Tissue papers- flowers & garland
• Cotton – Artificial flower garland
• Pebbles-Paper weight
• Ice cream sticks/Match sticks/paper spoons- Fancy gift items.
Garden City to Garbage City
The G-school students have been stopping people throwing thrash and surprising them by offering those gifts. In fact, it is their style of educating litter bugs in Bengaluru who have transformed Namma Bengaluru from Garden to Garbage city. For the last few days, a silent revolution is unfolding as Government Higher Primary School; Kurubarahalli School students are busy visiting dark spots and collecting waste. This waste is being taken to their classroom and converted into art, and gifted back to litter bugs. The students say the new revolution is part of their ‘Art of Giving’ mission to clean up Bengaluru.
Waste to Wealth
Siddaramu, a sixth standard student said, “It is nauseating to walk and was wondering what to do. How can we actually make Bengaluru beautiful and bring back its old charm. This was when we decided to do something different. “We went around the dark spots collecting thrash and converted into art. For example, wedding cards were transformed into designer car hanging, waste water bottles-pen stand, pamphlets-flower bouquets, coconut shells-toys, rubber balls -toy spider, e-waste-designer hanging, waste paper-visiting card holders, plastic covers-artificial flower and sticks as artificial butterflies.”
Inspired by Art of Giving
Kavya N, a seventh standard student from the same school said, “We were inspired by KIIT and KISS founder Dr Achyuta Samanta’s social project-Art of Giving which inspired us to give back something to the society. So, we wondered what can be given back to the society, initially, we thought of gifting roses but then decided to gift the trash back and hence worked on converting the waste into art.” Sandhya, a seventh standard student said, “We were guided by the 1984-85 batch alumni of Government High School, Police Colony (GHSPC) on how best we can convert the thrash and in matter of hours, beautiful artefacts were ready from thrash. Then, we took them to streets and waited at the dark spots for gifting.” Sandhya.B, an eighth standard student said, “When we gifted the litter bugs, they were taken by surprise. While some of them abused us, the others appreciated our efforts and promised us not to throw thrash on streets. We hope at least if 10 per cent of people can realise that the waste can be minimised then it can definitely make a huge difference to Bengaluru. We have dreamt of making city beautiful and hope our new initiative will inspire others in making Namma Bengaluru a liveable and beautiful city.”
Dark spots to Bright Spots
Manjula KS, headmistress of Government Higher Primary School, Kurubarahalli said, “The trash collection comes to a standstill in Bengaluru whenever there is a garbage crisis. Today, we have demonstrated as to how we can manage our own thrash that too in an aesthetic manner.” Mamata N Swamy, an alumni of GHSPC (1984-85 batch) said, “The artistic items which was presented at the press conference were all picked up from the dark spots. We just showed proved how dark spots of Bengaluru can actually be converted into brighter spots.” Devika Rani, another alumni said, “Generally, the students learn lessons from textbooks but today, these students have taught an important lesson to the entire Bengaluru. Devika Rani added, “The GHSPC has decided to teach life learning and financially sustainable skills to Government school students and would cover other government schools in a phased manner.”
