An awesome fun wedding with a message. Also introducing Meenakshi Bharath!
It was not a destination wedding, a traditional Eco-friendly one!
Who doesn't know his mother Meenakshi ? :-).
Siddharth is in the fourth year of a PhD program in Ecology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
Janani Eswar, the bride, a social entrepreneur, connecting children and young adults to nature in Bangalore, is the daughter of Radha and Krish Murali Eswar also from Bengaluru.
The wedding was a visual delight with a lot of thought bestowed on every detail. Importantly it was mother-earth friendly. It was performed in a heritage building 'Villa Pottipati' situated in Malleswaram. As space was a constraint smaller group of friends and relatives were invited for different functions in this lovely tree covered garden of the 19th century Villa.
A letter from the couple tells us why this wedding is so special.
Hello!
We’re excited that you’re going to join us in celebrating our weddings in Malleswaram next week! Preparations are on full swing, houses and families are abuzz with energy, and lots of interesting things are being planned.
We are passionate about living lightly on the planet, and so ours will be a zero waste wedding! We’re using and reusing colourful stitched napkins instead of paper towels. We’re arranging utensils from a plate bank (set up by the Malleswaram MLA), making recycled decorations, and having no disposables in the tamboolam. We plan to compost all kitchen waste, and donate all excess provisions and food to feed those in need. We’ve hired the expertise of Hasirudala, an organization that works for livelihoods of waste pickers, to totally manage waste from our events.
Speaking of provisions, we are working with Farm Fresh Bangalore, a social enterprise, to source >1500 kgs of organic local produce (including things like salt). This will be made into drool-worthy whole food, plant based naturopathic meals for all our guests. We can all fill up on wedding food and still be buzzing with energy and health!
Our weddings are celebrating our partnerships in ways that are meaningful for those dear to us. We have been spending time understanding the meaning behind every part of the vedic ritual. On the 7th and 8th of December, all our gatherings are outdoors, in the shade of old trees and an old house - Villa Pottipati. We’re cooking up fun little games for folks to play there, to connect with friends - human and otherwise - in the space.
We are very lucky and privileged that our parents have provided for most of our wants and needs. We are going to donate a fraction of wedding costs towards causes dear to us, such as annadanam, girls’ education in places we are connected to, ecological restoration and conservation, social justice movements. While we request no personal presents from you, any cash gifts we receive will be added to our donations. We will keep you all appraised of the concrete steps that we take in this regard.
Whew!! It’s all going to come together by the time you join us.
See you there!
Janani and Siddharth
"Enjoy the pictures of the wedding which Meenakshi and Radha planned and performed with the help of Bharath, Murali, friends and the family. The commitment to zero waste and more is passionately* held by both families."
- Madhavan shastru:
Traditional Hebbar Iyengar Mangalsutra |
Ancestral home of the groom's family. |
Chappara-pooja (The pendal.) |
Madavan shastru performed by Vidya Mami, in green sari. |
Oil being applied for the oil-bath. |
Aarti being done |
The paternal grandparents photo in the pooja room.
Kannika explaining our traditions to the foreign friends
Sisterly ministrations
Gifts without any packing being handed over
Bharath traps Meenakshi in a plastic bag!!!! |
Cousins galore
The whole family -The Rukmavilas clan |
Food all served in reusables
Evening:
- Bhajan at the Villa Pottu pati between 530-630 pm
The heritage home now a Neemrana hotel
Kolam |
Lighting the lamp |
Fish design Backdrop made out of waste materials |
The siblings together
Bhajans sung by Pammi and Manjula
Accompanying the bhajan
Wonder why he is tidying up this chair? |
For a vantage seat for his girl! |
what tickled them? |
Pleasantries with the sambandhis |
Sisters immersed in the bhajan |
all smiles |
the brides parents relaxed |
Kamala Pati the grandmother -continuing the tradition |
Another Pati from the brides side |
A great setting with tall trees, chairs stylishly covered with cloth |
Sugar cane juice served in glass glasses |
Kitchu Tata with all the younger generation |
The rukmavilas clan again |
A wonderful activity -jigsaw puzzle for all the 4 to do. |
Ramakanth who soldiers on for a clean eco-friendly events |
Bharath's father's side family |
The wedding day!
Labour of love for his own wedding! |
Kannika coming in through the gate |
The musicians-divine music |
Grandparents entering |
Hand woven vesti (dhoti) |
Krish Murali Eswar -Father of the bride |
Vidwan Radha krishna conducting the wedding |
Sisters Aditi and Janani share the wedding day too |
Jaimala |
Tying the mangalsutra |
Tara invoking blessings for the couple by singing Sanskrit slokas |
Bending down to put the toe rings |
MLA Malleswaram Dr C N Ashwath Narayan ( in the white shirt) graced the occasion. |
Natures beauty with sunshine thru green trees |
I share a few pictures which illustrate the work that has gone into preparing for the wedding.
A simple wedding board made from coir rope
|
Painted cloth decoration at the entrance |
Decorative pieces which add beauty to the wedding
Baskets reused from previous weddings! |
Imaginative use of a plastic bottle and seeds |
Eco friendly practices which look elegant
cloth covers instead of disposable paper sheets
Adding a little more elegance for a meal
A welcome sight of food containers. |
Food area in readiness |
Place for everything in the area serving food even waste!! |
Reusable plastic cups are a 100 times better than paper cups |
Steel plates and spoons lessen the burden of waste on earth |
Reusable cloth napkins help replaces paper napkins |
cleanliness while serving food |
Steel cups and steel spoons are a much better way to serve Shundal. Avoids paper cups and plastic spoons |
Shiny steel glasses and a 20 Litre water dispenser replaces plastic bottles! |
Clean sugarcane juice directly from machine. |
Collecting plates and spoons and waste in an organised way! |
Hasirudda staff who managed the waste from the event with Ramya the actress |
No shamiana can equal this green cover |
(Above pictures are representative of the many wonderful moments captured by the Photographer Harsha K R, Candid Photographer and Videographer)
------------------------------ 0 ------------------------------------
(MORE PICTURES to be selected!)
(MORE PICTURES to be selected!)
I was also planning to write about Dr. Meenakshi Bharath, have added the data I collected about her:
We met Mini two years ago when we invited her and her husband Bharath for our house warming at Eagleton. Bharath is our golf buddy and the first thing he said was 'I hope you will make it ecofriendly'. I replied that we would surely try if we knew what to do.
He said there was no problem and said Mini would call my wife Tara and explain. Sure enough she did and explained what was needed to be done. Not only that she arranged for the plates and cups, the cloth napkins and other things that were essential. She talked to our caterer and convinced him to co-operate with our effort to reduce waste.
While we probably were not 100% successful, we were happy we met Dr Meenakshi Bharath, a Gynaecologist and Fertility specialist at Centre for Assisted Reproductive Techniques (CART).
More importantly she is a dynamic green campaigner, an advocate for Clean Bangalore , a strident voice for garbage segregation and recycling, and a relentless fighter to create visibility for the problems of voiceless people.
It is only at the wedding of her son Siddharth we got to know the extent of work that is required to be done and the commitment that is needed. How a ecologically friendly wedding can be artistic and visual delight while it does not burden mother-earth with non-degradable waste.
I think the best way understand is to see what was attempted and achieved in the wedding we were witness.
Siddharth is in the fourth year of a PhD program in Ecology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
Janani Eswar, the bride, a social entrepreneur, connecting children and young adults to nature in Bangalore, is the daughter of Radha and Krish Murali Eswar also from Bengaluru.
"Enjoy the pictures of the wedding which Meenakshi and Radha planned and performed with the help of Bharath, Murali, friends and the family. The commitment to zero waste and more was held by both families."
Please give a thought to the message she has put into words. They are not just words, it is her commitment and she lives it.
The simple way the Mangalasutra is displayed best illustrates the approach needed |
The Welcome arch (?) at the ancestral home where the Madhuvan Shastra was performed cannot be more simple |
(Above pictures are representative of the many wonderful moments captured by the Photographer Harsha K R, Candid Photographer and Videographer)
A letter from the couple tells us why this wedding is so special.
Hello!
We’re excited that you’re going to join us in celebrating our weddings in Malleswaram next week! Preparations are on full swing, houses and families are abuzz with energy, and lots of interesting things are being planned.
We are passionate about living lightly on the planet, and so ours will be a zero waste wedding! We’re using and reusing colourful stitched napkins instead of paper towels. We’re arranging utensils from a plate bank (set up by the Malleswaram MLA), making recycled decorations, and having no disposables in the tamboolam. We plan to compost all kitchen waste, and donate all excess provisions and food to feed those in need. We’ve hired the expertise of Hasirudala, an organization that works for livelihoods of waste pickers, to totally manage waste from our events.
Speaking of provisions, we are working with Farm Fresh Bangalore, a social enterprise, to source >1500 kgs of organic local produce (including things like salt). This will be made into drool-worthy whole food, plant based naturopathic meals for all our guests. We can all fill up on wedding food and still be buzzing with energy and health!
Our weddings are celebrating our partnerships in ways that are meaningful for those dear to us. We have been spending time understanding the meaning behind every part of the vedic ritual. On the 7th and 8th of December, all our gatherings are outdoors, in the shade of old trees and an old house - Villa Pottipati. We’re cooking up fun little games for folks to play there, to connect with friends - human and otherwise - in the space.
We are very lucky and privileged that our parents have provided for most of our wants and needs. We are going to donate a fraction of wedding costs towards causes dear to us, such as annadanam, girls’ education in places we are connected to, ecological restoration and conservation, social justice movements. While we request no personal presents from you, any cash gifts we receive will be added to our donations. We will keep you all appraised of the concrete steps that we take in this regard.
Whew!! It’s all going to come together by the time you join us.
See you there!
Janani and Siddharth
The wedding preparations:
I share a few pictures which illustrate the work that has gone into preparing for the wedding.
(AGAIN MORE PICS TO BE ADDED)
Quoting Meenakshi Bharath :
Performing a Eco-friendly wedding is simply easy. We need to plan and take steps to ensure that our celebration creates as little waste as possible. The weddings we have performed in the last 6 yrs were Eco-friendly and were well-accepted and appreciated.
We started with Ramya and Pradyut’s wedding in the year 2011 at the Gangam Kalyan mantapa–a one day affair where we hosted over 500 guests for 3 meals and we continued with this concept with Kannika’s and Prasanna’s wedding, now for Siddharth and Janani's wedding.
Very importantly it is a commitment:
1. It requires the young couple and their parents want to do it .
2. As you plan the wedding take a Vow not to use any disposables but use only re-usables.
It is a really sad that most weddings these days generate massive amounts of trash. The biggest generator is the dining hall, where there are 3-7 plastic utensils per plate, including a bottle of water. All of this creates a mass of never-degrading trash that goes to a landfill. A lot of money wasted, all down the drain! Unfortunately none bats an eyelid at the massive amount of disposables our way of life generates, an act tantamount to violence against our planet.
Just think back to 20 years! You will realise that none of these disposables were a part of a wedding. Everyone managed perfectly fine then, why can't we do so now?
As you all know, we have now started a family tradition of making sure that we create as little garbage as possible at every occasion and function. We adopted this successfully for the wedding too!
Some of the things that we did and you could emulate are –
1. We made e invites and sent it to all our guests- and it was very well received –going by the attendance of more than 90% at the wedding. Just a handful of printed invites were made.
2. The gifts for all the wedding was wrapped in paper calendar covers that were left from the previous year.
3. Floral Decoration: The decorators were creative and used only local flowers –jasmine-shavantige and chand huva with no plastic zari or styrofoam in the decorations. This ensured that after all the ceremonies; the flowers and the coconut fronds were used to make wonderful compost.
4. The “Basinga” –a forehead decoration that is used by the bride and the groom-is usually made of thermacole. A friend of ours made a beautiful one with paper flowers and a string of beads-rubies
5. All utensils used in the dining hall were ecofriendly and reusable – drinking glasses, spoons, plates, coffee and water tumblers, and hand wash bowls were made of steel. Also steel plates along with melamine plates and Banana Leaves were used! We said a HAPPY NO to -use and throw stuff- disposables as we'd like the married couple to start their lives with no garbage footprint. We need people to wash and clean these reusables well and wipe them too. One can make arrangements for this.
6. We did not use disposable paper or plastic roll on the dining tables, we ensured that the dining table was wiped clean after every meal. All the banana leaf and food waste were composted at home. We do not need to use paper or plastic rolls on the tables-especially if they are granite or steel. Just some extra wiping cloths and cleaning materials.
7. No tissues only cotton cloth napkins were used at the wedding-These made and printed with the wedding logo-this printing being done by autistic children (as my daughter works for ASHA –(Academy for Severe handicaps and Autism)
8. No bottled water was used at the wedding- Instead dispensed mineral water from reusable 20 L cans, This can be hygienically served in clean steel jugs and poured into steel tumblers.
9. The Tamboola bags though made of plastic are not the disposable variety but something that you will keep for long and use them over and over again-a pretty sight to see too. In the bag other than the traditional coconut there was a 100 gram packet of organic haldi-with a print saying this in red-the concept of haldi and kumkum achieved. Organic haldi that was suitable for cooking.
10. Over a 1000 saplings of Mallige plant were given along with the tamboola. This was lovingly nurtured 3 months ahead of the wedding at a nursery. A reminder of the wedding for our guests, every time the flowers bloom.
11. All the waste produced during the cooking of the food was collected separately and brought home for composting. The food waste after the meals was sent to the piggeries and the banana leaves were brought home-shredded –mixed with cow dung and put for composting.
12. All the floral waste was brought home and composted.
All this was possible due to months of brain storming and exchanging of ideas. At the wedding it would not have been possible to achieve it without the active participation of my friends-especially Mr N. S. Ramakanth-who at the young age of 75 managed the whole ecofriendly wedding.
13: We request our guests: 'Please no gifts, especially no flower bouquets, or gifts in cash' ( that is what we got for Kannika's and prasanna's wedding)
Knowing the nature of the bride and groom who are very Eco-friendly in their thinking. We tried our utmost in Siddharth and Janani's wedding to mitigate this feeling of waste at every step possible. I am happy to say that we achieved our target of ZERO WASTE
Thanks,
Dr. Meenakshi Bharat
Dr. Meenakshi Bharat
P.S. - In 2011, along with my friend Mr. Srinivasan of Vellore, we organised an eco-friendly wedding for my friend Ramya Padbidri. It was a great experience, and much appreciated by the over 1500 guests who came. You can see photo-documentation of it here - http://goo.gl/mcUAtDk
Her work in Malleshwara Assembly Constituency can be viewed at http://malleswaram-matters.com(link is external)
Dr Meenakshi has worked with various organisations
1. Janaagraha working on the correction of the voter list,
2.The secretary of Malleswaram Swabhimanaa Initiative -Resident Welfare association.
3. Her core interest is in Solid waste Management, working on composing, recycling of dry waste and reduction of waste production-spreading the message on not using any disposables - an important initiative with its direct impact on healthy living.
4. She also supported the Saaku Corruption Campaign. She joined the Anna Hazare movement and showed solidarity with his cause and join like-minded citizens
We met Mini two years ago when we invited her and her husband Bharath for our house warming at Eagleton. Bharath is our golf buddy and the first thing he said was 'I hope you will make it ecofriendly'. I replied that we would surely try if we knew what to do.
He said there was no problem and said Mini would call my wife Tara and explain. Sure enough she did and explained what was needed to be done. Not only that she arranged for the plates and cups, the cloth napkins and other things that were essential. She talked to our caterer and convinced him to co-operate with our effort to reduce waste.
While we probably were not 100% successful, we were happy we met Dr Meenakshi Bharath, a Gynaecologist and Fertility specialist at Centre for Assisted Reproductive Techniques (CART).
More importantly she is a dynamic green campaigner, an advocate for Clean Bangalore , a strident voice for garbage segregation and recycling, and a relentless fighter to create visibility for the problems of voiceless people.
It is only at the wedding of her son Siddharth we got to know the extent of work that is required to be done and the commitment that is needed. How a ecologically friendly wedding can be artistic and visual delight while it does not burden mother-earth with non-degradable waste.
I think the best way understand is to see what was attempted and achieved in the wedding we were witness.
Siddharth is in the fourth year of a PhD program in Ecology at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
Janani Eswar, the bride, a social entrepreneur, connecting children and young adults to nature in Bangalore, is the daughter of Radha and Krish Murali Eswar also from Bengaluru.
"Enjoy the pictures of the wedding which Meenakshi and Radha planned and performed with the help of Bharath, Murali, friends and the family. The commitment to zero waste and more was held by both families."
Please give a thought to the message she has put into words. They are not just words, it is her commitment and she lives it.
The simple way the Mangalasutra is displayed best illustrates the approach needed |
The Welcome arch (?) at the ancestral home where the Madhuvan Shastra was performed cannot be more simple |
(Above pictures are representative of the many wonderful moments captured by the Photographer Harsha K R, Candid Photographer and Videographer)
A letter from the couple tells us why this wedding is so special.
Hello!
We’re excited that you’re going to join us in celebrating our weddings in Malleswaram next week! Preparations are on full swing, houses and families are abuzz with energy, and lots of interesting things are being planned.
We are passionate about living lightly on the planet, and so ours will be a zero waste wedding! We’re using and reusing colourful stitched napkins instead of paper towels. We’re arranging utensils from a plate bank (set up by the Malleswaram MLA), making recycled decorations, and having no disposables in the tamboolam. We plan to compost all kitchen waste, and donate all excess provisions and food to feed those in need. We’ve hired the expertise of Hasirudala, an organization that works for livelihoods of waste pickers, to totally manage waste from our events.
Speaking of provisions, we are working with Farm Fresh Bangalore, a social enterprise, to source >1500 kgs of organic local produce (including things like salt). This will be made into drool-worthy whole food, plant based naturopathic meals for all our guests. We can all fill up on wedding food and still be buzzing with energy and health!
Our weddings are celebrating our partnerships in ways that are meaningful for those dear to us. We have been spending time understanding the meaning behind every part of the vedic ritual. On the 7th and 8th of December, all our gatherings are outdoors, in the shade of old trees and an old house - Villa Pottipati. We’re cooking up fun little games for folks to play there, to connect with friends - human and otherwise - in the space.
We are very lucky and privileged that our parents have provided for most of our wants and needs. We are going to donate a fraction of wedding costs towards causes dear to us, such as annadanam, girls’ education in places we are connected to, ecological restoration and conservation, social justice movements. While we request no personal presents from you, any cash gifts we receive will be added to our donations. We will keep you all appraised of the concrete steps that we take in this regard.
Whew!! It’s all going to come together by the time you join us.
See you there!
Janani and Siddharth
The wedding preparations:
I share a few pictures which illustrate the work that has gone into preparing for the wedding.
(AGAIN MORE PICS TO BE ADDED)
Quoting\ Meenakshi Bharath :
Performing a Eco-friendly wedding is simply easy. We need to plan and take steps to ensure that our celebration creates as little waste as possible. The weddings we have performed in the last 6 yrs were Eco-friendly and were well-accepted and appreciated.
We started with Ramya and Pradyut’s wedding in the year 2011 at the Gangam Kalyan mantapa–a one day affair where we hosted over 500 guests for 3 meals and we continued with this concept with Kannika’s and Prasanna’s wedding, now for Siddharth and Janani's wedding.
Very importantly it is a commitment:
1. It requires the young couple and their parents want to do it .
2. As you plan the wedding take a Vow not to use any disposables but use only re-usables.
It is a really sad that most weddings these days generate massive amounts of trash. The biggest generator is the dining hall, where there are 3-7 plastic utensils per plate, including a bottle of water. All of this creates a mass of never-degrading trash that goes to a landfill. A lot of money wasted, all down the drain! Unfortunately none bats an eyelid at the massive amount of disposables our way of life generates, an act tantamount to violence against our planet.
Just think back to 20 years! You will realise that none of these disposables were a part of a wedding. Everyone managed perfectly fine then, why can't we do so now?
As you all know, we have now started a family tradition of making sure that we create as little garbage as possible at every occasion and function. We adopted this successfully for the wedding too!
Some of the things that we did and you could emulate are –
1. We made e invites and sent it to all our guests- and it was very well received –going by the attendance of more than 90% at the wedding. Just a handful of printed invites were made.
2. The gifts for all the wedding was wrapped in paper calendar covers that were left from the previous year.
3. Floral Decoration: The decorators were creative and used only local flowers –jasmine-shavantige and chand huva with no plastic zari or styrofoam in the decorations. This ensured that after all the ceremonies; the flowers and the coconut fronds were used to make wonderful compost.
4. The “Basinga” –a forehead decoration that is used by the bride and the groom-is usually made of thermacole. A friend of ours made a beautiful one with paper flowers and a string of beads-rubies
5. All utensils used in the dining hall were ecofriendly and reusable – drinking glasses, spoons, plates, coffee and water tumblers, and hand wash bowls were made of steel. Also steel plates along with melamine plates and Banana Leaves were used! We said a HAPPY NO to -use and throw stuff- disposables as we'd like the married couple to start their lives with no garbage footprint. We need people to wash and clean these reusables well and wipe them too. One can make arrangements for this.
6. We did not use disposable paper or plastic roll on the dining tables, we ensured that the dining table was wiped clean after every meal. All the banana leaf and food waste were composted at home. We do not need to use paper or plastic rolls on the tables-especially if they are granite or steel. Just some extra wiping cloths and cleaning materials.
7. No tissues only cotton cloth napkins were used at the wedding-These made and printed with the wedding logo-this printing being done by autistic children (as my daughter works for ASHA –(Academy for Severe handicaps and Autism)
8. No bottled water was used at the wedding- Instead dispensed mineral water from reusable 20 L cans, This can be hygienically served in clean steel jugs and poured into steel tumblers.
9. The Tamboola bags though made of plastic are not the disposable variety but something that you will keep for long and use them over and over again-a pretty sight to see too. In the bag other than the traditional coconut there was a 100 gram packet of organic haldi-with a print saying this in red-the concept of haldi and kumkum achieved. Organic haldi that was suitable for cooking.
10. Over a 1000 saplings of Mallige plant were given along with the tamboola. This was lovingly nurtured 3 months ahead of the wedding at a nursery. A reminder of the wedding for our guests, every time the flowers bloom.
11. All the waste produced during the cooking of the food was collected separately and brought home for composting. The food waste after the meals was sent to the piggeries and the banana leaves were brought home-shredded –mixed with cow dung and put for composting.
12. All the floral waste was brought home and composted.
All this was possible due to months of brain storming and exchanging of ideas. At the wedding it would not have been possible to achieve it without the active participation of my friends-especially Mr N. S. Ramakanth-who at the young age of 75 managed the whole ecofriendly wedding.
13: We request our guests: 'Please no gifts, especially no flower bouquets, or gifts in cash' ( that is what we got for Kannika's and prasanna's wedding)
Knowing the nature of the bride and groom who are very Eco-friendly in their thinking. We tried our utmost in Siddharth and Janani's wedding to mitigate this feeling of waste at every step possible. I am happy to say that we achieved our target of ZERO WASTE
Thanks,
Dr. Meenakshi Bharat
Dr. Meenakshi Bharat
P.S. - In 2011, along with my friend Mr. Srinivasan of Vellore, we organised an eco-friendly wedding for my friend Ramya Padbidri. It was a great experience, and much appreciated by the over 1500 guests who came. You can see photo-documentation of it here - http://goo.gl/mcUAtDk
Her work in Malleshwara Assembly Constituency can be viewed at http://malleswaram-matters.com(link is external)
Dr Meenakshi has worked with various organisations
1. Janaagraha working on the correction of the voter list,
2.The secretary of Malleswaram Swabhimanaa Initiative -Resident Welfare association.
3. Her core interest is in Solid waste Management, working on composing, recycling of dry waste and reduction of waste production-spreading the message on not using any disposables - an important initiative with its direct impact on healthy living.
4. She also supported the Saaku Corruption Campaign. She joined the Anna Hazare movement and showed solidarity with his cause and join like-mind.
Comments
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