GADAG: A wealth of knowledge and life skills await children who attend the Anmol Yoga and Ayurvedic Treatment Centre in Mundargi. Besides training in yoga, they undergo an enriching experience of holistic development — they learn to value themselves with sessions on personality and skill development, value waste which they upcycle with fresh ideas, and much more.
Founder Mangala Chandrakanth Itagi, who holds a PhD in yoga and is a therapist, started the centre seven years ago. Yoga is taught from Monday to Friday, while Saturday and Sunday mornings are reserved for the overall development of children, aged 6 to 15.
It was the profusion of plastic -- plastic bottles and other stuff thrown at street corners, plastic rakhis hanging in shops, and other plastic ware -- that made Mangala realise she should do something about it. Deeply interested in environmental awareness, Mangala began a programme ‘Waste to Wealth’ to teach children to turn dry waste into useful products. They are trained to make greeting cards, planters, photo frames, pen stands, hand fans, badges, eco-friendly rakhis, face masks, mats, collages and paintings, and hanging planters and water containers for birds. Dreary plastic turned into bright and beautiful decor. Besides inculcating in children the habit of recycling, she started an awareness camp on banning plastic, as a two-pronged attack on the menace.
The idea of training is like a chain, says Mangala, who teaches 45 students. She wants these children to take the teaching to their friends and keep the chain going. The ‘Waste to Wealth’ training, which has been going on for three years, teaches students the techniques of reinventing water bottles, oil cans, ice-cream boxes, invitation cards and other similar domestic waste. Mangala says these converted items give the same satisfaction as new items.
With the kids learning something new, parents are also happy to learn waste management techniques. The young ones have also taught their parents to separate dry and wet waste, and use the latter to fashion creative things. A few months ago, the yoga centre organised an eco-friendly rakhi training camp. It was a huge success with students making hundreds of eco-friendly rakhis and training other students too.
The concept here is one of growth: each rakhi has an ayurvedic plant seed embedded in the threads, like tulsi, ashwagandha, asparagus etc. After the festival, each child has to place the medicinal seed in a planter and watch it take root. This idea helped hundreds of children move away from plastic rakhis and and also grow a plant each.
Having seen children easily getting addicted to mobiles and ignoring creative activities, Mangala also encourages them to learn gardening, go trekking and play traditional games. Hence, there is ‘Karma Yoga’ during the mornings on weekends. Children are given physical tasks like trekking to Kappatagudda, or cleaning an area or organising a play.
Eight-year-old Reetu Magaji, who has been with the centre for three years, said, “We wait eagerly for every weekend because we have fun in the yoga centre. Nowadays, I don’t throw anything at home -- from ice-cream sticks, plastic bottles, bags, dry leaves, paint cans to coconuts, everything can be used to make wonderful things. The trainers taught us how to use even kitchen waste and garden waste.
We are also teaching our friends. During the last rakhi festival, we planted 32 trees, and we water them daily.” said Mangala, “I started the yoga centre but also got the idea of teaching innovative techniques in waste management. If such initiatives are spread across the state and country, we can save the earth from the plastic menace. I started with a small step and hope that these children teach others.”
Fit for upcycling
Waste greeting cards, used oil cans, water bottles, plastic containers, plastic pots, drums, dust bins, brushes, bamboo boxes, calendars, old sarees, old dresses
Festival awareness
The yoga centre celebrates every festival, irrespective of caste and creed. At festival sessions, teachers talk about the history and importance of the festival and teach how to celebrate it without harming the environment.
Organic manure
Mangala also teaches how to make organic manure from kitchen and garden waste. She says the use of organic manure is helpful in saving the environment and avoid harmful chemical fertilisers.