Joy of Giving - Rahmath - Card 22

Rahmath has been following the Joy of Giving cards and has written about her experience with the 'Avoid plastic bags for 7 days' card 22. Its a sweet post reminding us of the way our own parents used to shop before the plastic bag replaced the cloth bag as a shopping bag... Must read.

You should visit her blog for more insightful posts on life... Thank you for this post Rahmath and for being such an ardent Joy of Giving practiontioner...

Avoid Plastic for Seven Days.Use Cloth Bag Instead.

The sewing machine in my parent's house has helped my mother (and me) sew a lot of things. One of the things my mother used to sew was cloth bags. She used to recycle my father's old pants into durable and strong cloth bags. And my father used to take these bags whenever he went for groceries. I guess he still does.

Theirs was a generation in which nothing was wasted, even the free flimsy plastic covers. Father used to take a plastic cover for milk packets and the egg dabba for buying eggs. Very very rarely did my parent's house ever have too many plastic covers. In fact i don't remember if it ever did. Infact as a child, I remember scouring the house for the bubblegum type plastic covers to make plastic flowers and hardly finding two or three.

How easy it is to forget such subtle lessons. That's why I like Ritu's en devour for Joy of Giving. Truthfully speaking, most of the cards are nothing new. Come on, Let's give our parents some credit. They have already taught us many of these lessons.

Then why follow these these Joy of Giving Cards?

Well my dears, it's because they are reminders,extremely important reminders. We have to go through these reminders again and again and again; Else it's so easy to forget.

Nowadays I try a bit harder. I try to CAB (Carry A Bag). Please visit Ritu's page and go through the video she has composed.In her video she has emphasized the importance of not using plastics or paper covers for our environment. It's worth it. I am still trying to CAB and am not 100% CAB - ing. I am still trying to make it a habit.

Now, I have two three small plastic cover's in my handbag and a cloth bag which we bought for 5 rupees from spencers retail. Instead of home delivering, nowadays we try to get groceries when we go for a walk or while we come from office and use our plastic covers or cloth bags.

We refuse bags, plastic or paper from shops as far as possible. I give my hubby a plastic cover or two when he goes grocery shopping or vegetable shopping and thereby, trying to reuse the ones already in our house.Sometimes Yes, we forget or we feel lazy and indifferent but the habit is slowly kicking in. Hopefully, soon we will kick out plastic covers and paper covers from our lifestyle completely.

By sharing this, I Hope to inspire you too the way Ritu has inspired me.

Let's do Mother Earth Proud.

Hope!!!! Such a sweet word...

Joy of Giving Card 22 - Avoid Plastic Bags Video

The Joy of Giving Card 22 that exhorts us to desist from using plastic bags for a week is very dear to me.

When I was a newly wed, we used to travel a lot. On one of our trips to Nagaland and Meghalaya, I found, to my horror, the beautiful landscape was on its way to near ruin due to mountains of plastic bags lying in heaps along the roads, hillsides, open fields etc.

The experience also made me take notice of similar conditions prevailing in the city we lived in then, (famously called the Singapore of the East) Vishakhapatnam. I was not content merely watching. So I took action.

I designed and got the husband to screen print (this was the mid-90s remember!) A 4 size posters that I (much to his chagrin - because he was my chauffeur) pasted across town - in stores, supermarkets, even the University bulletin board. I did not attempt to find out if it helped, but at the famous Nilgiris Supermarket that I frequented, I was told by the manager that it had helped and people were not taking plastic bags from them anymore.

Sometimes I like to think that it was the fervour of youth and the idealistic thought process that served as an inspiration, but today I know it wasn't. Over the years I have continued to follow the practise of minimal plastic bag use, and even inspired my mother to do the same.

To bring all my thoughts on the subject together, I have created this 4 minute video. It is an amateur effort to make a little difference.

I am sending copies of the video on a pen drive to both my children's schools. It would help if this message could be spread to become a movement.

It is afterall, our responsibility to ensure that the Earth can breathe long after we're gone!

Watch it and forward!

Joy of Giving - Card 22, 23 - Week 23

I am late again! No, I don't intend to make a habit of this... Let's just say too many things happened (like the computer crashed and I managed to dig out an old defunct laptop just to post these cards)!!!

Anyhow, since I am lagging behind by one week, I thought I would post two cards this week, and both are fairly simple. They can be executed simultaneously until next Monday when we are ready for the next card.

Here they are: Card 22 and 23 (please forgive the bad resolution. I had to photograph them since I couldn't hook the laptop to my scanner)...

Both the cards are simple and do-able. Incidentally I have been carrying a cloth bag while shopping for a very long time now. Will write about it. I also began emptying my cupboard past weekend and will donate the clothes like I always do.

Meanwhile, if you are new to the Joy of Giving here's what you can do:

Go to the page titled Joy Of Giving where I have posted all the cards selected so far. Those of you who'd like to start this exercise from the beginning, just follow the cards in the order they are posted!

OR

To join the Joy of Giving right away just follow the cards every week as they are posted on the blog.

Please REMEMBER to post your experiences in a public forum - your own blog, note on FaceBook - or leave your story in the comment section of this blog. Do remember to tag me in your posts...

To know how it started click here.

To track the Joy of Giving through the past twenty two weeks, click here

DO spread the message of this unique movement. Encourage your friends to start following the cards and spreading joy...