Skip to main content

Khamba has arrived!

24th April 2016

Finally the khamba (composter) arrived! I was really anticipating this guy! It's only been 3 days and I feel like a girl feeding her pet dragon. I even instructed by super co-operative roommates and my maid what we can feed it and how smaller bits should be made of all wet waste. I really hope I'm doing it right and I get good quality fertilizer by the end of this.

Khamba inside out
May I also say that thanks to the Remix powder I bought with this, it's not smelling at all as of now. I'm also mixing it up with some dry leaves or newspaper to absorb excess moisture and avoid fruit flies.

I've successfully managed to live a week without buying some things I consume almost daily for snacks - chips, biscuits etc. Although, this is not a happy solution. I need to carry a container to buy my week's supply of junk food. :P Right now I'm eating freshly cooked food in newspapers - samosas, chaat etc. and visit shops which have their own plates/cups. I'm still looking for an inexpensive carry cup with a silicon lid like this one. That way I can happily consume buttermilk and coffees in fancy cafés that serve in Styrofoam cups. Arvind also bought a steel container that we can buy loose good quality milk. It's almost double the cost of the packet milk, but it's worth it, since it gives a lot of cream. We're making other milk products like ghee, curd and buttermilk from it; hence cutting down their packaging as well and eating more organic food.

I read about Organic Mandya in the news a few days back. It's amazing organization which sells organic farmer's produce directly to customers, and also helps them have a more sustainable living by sending over volunteers and educating them on better farming techniques. It was such good news to read about this! I went through their website and noticed they also package in plastic. I was a bit disappointed, but realized they must have a good reason - maybe they need to be cost effect, maybe the food has to last through transportation and moisture issues. Whatever it was, I decided to contact them and ask if they were open to more sustainable packaging.

They called me the next day itself! I was shocked and really impressed with their quick response - they were infact looking for greener packaging for their products, like jute or cloth. I called some of my product design friends who'd worked on packaging in college. They suggested recycled handmade paper, jute or cloth. Arvind's sister makes recycled paper products, so I've put them through to her. I hope something good comes out of this as well! I was so grateful and surprised to see how much they care about their carbon footprint.

There's really some hope afterall! :)

Comments

The Hearthstone said…
Keep me posted on how the khamba works.
@The Hearthstone will let you know!

Popular posts from this blog

Be the change you want to see.

18th April 2016 Arvind and I recently read about the 19 year old who is solving the world’s ocean pollution crisis. Boyan Slat is a Dutch engineering student single handedly developing the gyers (floating booms and processing platforms) which would potentially clean up 20 billion tonnes of plastic from the world's oceans; the plastic which kills millions of animals and damages thousands of cargo vessels every year. Arvind stressed on the fact that he was 19 – he was exceptionally impressed by a kid who showed that much drive, determination and hard work at such a young age. For me, regardless of his age, this was so commendable. The age didn’t matter to me, infact I disagreed with Arvind, and mentioned how adults have it harder to do something for the greater good. Not only are they in a pathetic zone (they have full time jobs!), they also have responsibilities towards their families and are less imaginative and courageous than the youth since they are aware of the hindrances li

The Coconut Seller

9th November 2013       I approached the coconut seller and asked, "how much for one?" "30 for malai wala and 25 for paani wala" "Patli malai wale ke liye kitna?" "30 memsaab", he said.        I asked for one with the thin malai. It was delicious. The first sip from the straw, and images of coconut trees and paddy fields flashed in my mind. Narrow roads and clear skies, palms swaying in the breeze - it cut back to the straw. The water was over. I looked inside the coconut, hoping for more water. "Kahan se laate ho aap?" I asked. "Mysore se. Yaha toh koi nikaalta nahin hai pedh se. Pakh jaate hain." he said. "Aur aap kaha se ho?" "Main Allahabad se" he said, smiling. "Itni door se? Poori family yaha hai?" "Haan ji. Ek flat tha, lekin usme jagaha nahin thi, toh hum bhaade pe reh rahe hain." he said, "aap kaha se ho?" "Main Goa se hoon" I said. He smiled. "Toh a

Messed up 48 hours.

28th June 2013 So I've had a terrible 3 days here. I realised my Sc. 5 was accidentally missing from my Film Folder, and when it hit me that my last backup was a March backup that had 2 months of work done after that, I was feeling absolutely broken-hearted. I didn't know if it was worth continuing this film. I was drowning in sorrow at the thought of having to do all that work again. I googled it, got a few recovery softwares that mostly hung and some showed some files I wasn't looking for. I called a good friend who suggested two good data-recovery softwares. 'Wondershare', the best one I'd tried took 12 hours to scan my PC for all the files that were deleted from my Recycle bin. It didn't have it. At 3 am I decided to give up. It was gone. I tried to get over it and move on as quickly as possible. I could not afford to give up now. It would be like dropping out of college in your final year. I was on the verge of finishing the film, and would probabl