Monday, August 21, 2017

What did your fix today?


Meet Mrs. Kulraj Mohan,
We stumbled up Mrs. Mohan’s ingenuity on facebook. Carefully patched up broken pot, a torn sweater stitched back to life. Her work resonated with what repair café Bengaluru stands for.
Care giving is a response that we human being are capable of unlike any other species and positive response of care and empathy can bring about a sense of goodwill not just in our lives but in society at large. Repairing to us is an extended care-giving platform; it’s a stance that we take, a decision, a choice that can have rippling effect in the generation to come.
Here’s some of her work in visuals and some wise words.


                     A mended Plastic pot. Mending can look elegant if done carefully with nimble fingers                    

                                                                           
                                                       
A sweater gets a second life
     
                                                                                   


                                                                             Scrapper turned into a pot


When i started "saving and reusing" things there were no environmental issues. Atleast they were not discussed. I remember about 35 years ago I mended a blanket that was accidentally burnt by hot iron. I had cut round discs from a leftover woolen piece and covered the hole on both sides. My mother in law would show it to everyone appreciating my work ! 
I have been doing such things with discarded pieces of cloth, making table covers, bags and toys for my dogs. It was some 10 years ago that i got passionate about environmental issues especially plastic waste. Working in a college I found an opportunity to educate students. Together we would find ways to use green options and reduce waste as much as possible. 
At home i make compost from kitchen waste. I also used my garden waste for aerobic composting.
We dont 'buy' plastic as such but old plastic containers and bottles are used as planters. When our house was painted, i collected all the paint buckets and made designs on them to be used as pots at bangalore. Same with extra waste paper baskets.  I have grown plants in a broken scrapper and discarded utensils.  I try to mend things that are usually thrown away.
Small plastic bottles of milk and lassi are used for keeping condiments, empty cardboard boxes of liquor etc for keeping small boxes handy. The grow bags are painted and used as pots. So are coconut shells. Recently i made cushion covers from a silk saari. 

We’d like to thank Mrs Mohan for her contribution to our blog. We hope that her tribe grows in leaps and bounds.

3 comments: