Cooking doesn’t like me too much. I’ve tried really hard to cajole her with my full-baked attempts, but she just doesn’t care for any of my stirring and sprinkling. I remember starting out in the kitchen, struggling to get the stove to light up. And I wanted my ambitious first dish to be a pasta something. Even Maggi would have been a challenge at that point, but it didn’t hurt to dream big.
I wonder if this analogy strikes home to a lot of us trying to lead a more natural and earth-friendly life. It is so easy to get caught up with the bigger picture of conservation and patronize products that are made from discarded flowers, or buy organic fruits and vegetables or gift terra-cotta planter boxes or buy ourselves ahimsa silk sarees. While all these do help some element of our eco-system, there are simpler baby steps that might have a larger impact- with the minimum-est of efforts.
Like carrying our own bags and water bottles wherever we go.
Like learning and starting to compost at home, no matter how tiny the space available or how lazy we may be
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Like dedicating or creating a space in our homes and offices to segregate our waste. And finding a local recycler to pick up the junk.
Like keeping aside old batteries, broken mosquito rackets, redundant phones and other kinds of electronic waste, and contacting an e-recycler to rest them in peace.
Like ensuring our electrical appliances are energy-efficient. Like calling a plumber and fixing that leaky tap(s)!
We can start off by keeping it real simple, and then build on being consistent. Something I should have followed with my cooking. Like a cup of tea for starters, or a simple daal. The paneer lababdar can wait!
