The Plastic Menace

One can understand the reasoning behind the rapid development of Tiruvannamalai and surrounding countryside, however sometimes it seems that that development has completely unnecessary environmental consequences. One such issue is the proliferation of plastic waste throughout the area. 

Happily our Tiruvannamalai Administration is now throwing its full weight behind the drive AGAINST plastic in this area. 

A recent newspaper report states: “Facebook may not have ‘dislike’ button but you can express your dislike towards any plastic garbage pollution, violation of ban on plastics in Tiruvannamalai on a specially created Facebook page ‘plastic free Tiruvannamalai’ and get the attention of authorities. 

Plastics carry bags, sachets, water glasses etc of less than 40 micron have been banned in Tiruvannamalai. Even those above permissible 40 micron should bear the name of the manufacturer. The ban came into effect from August 15. 

District Collector Vijay Pingale is showing keen interest in realising the goal of plastic free Tiruvannamalai and on his insistence every Municipality and Town Panchayat in Tiruvannamalai District is organising rallies against usage of disposable plastics. 

Meanwhile Mr. Pingale has asked people to post their complaints against violation of this ban in the Facebook fan page created by supporters of the mission. While addressing a rally in Kilpennathur on Thursday Tiruvannamalai District Collector announced that:- 

“If you come across any case of disposable plastics being sold or used violating the ban in Tiruvannamalai you just can capture it on your mobile phone and share the picture with details such as time and place on the Facebook page ‘plastic free Tiruvannamalai’, created by supporters of our mission. Authorities will observe the postings in the page and take action.” 

The Facebook page, link here, is not officially managed by the Tiruvannamalai Administration, however the Administration has given their assurances that follow up action would also be posted on that Facebook page. 

Shanmurgan

Now this is a very familiar face sitting on the side of Chengam Road, near the entrance of Sri Ramana Ashram. His name is Shanmurgan and he carves statues of Arunachala, Gods and Saints for sale to pilgrims and visitors. He is 52 years old and has been carving for the last 40 years. He is local to Tiruvannamalai, and was born near the Big Temple in town. Years back he set up a stall near Skandashram but slowly competitors moved in, sales went down and so did Shanmurgan who decided to move back to Ramana Nagar. Shanmurgan comes from a family of sculptors and his Father used to carve and then sell his statues near the Big Temple in town.

When I took this photograph of Shanmurgan I didn't notice the plastic bags in the background. We are becoming so inured to seeing trashy plastic lying all over the place, that sometimes one doesn't even notice anymore. Shame! AEED, a comparatively new organisation in Tiruvannamalai is currently doing alot of work in the fields of noise and plastic pollution. You can view them at this link.

Shanmurgan is concentrating on a statue of the God Nataraja and in the below photograph he is lining up the base with the God form.

Below is Shanmurgan's stall and portable showroom. At one corner of the stall is his own private puja area with a nice assortment of various Gods and Saints. Undoubtedly Shanmurgan performs a puja at his altar each morning before starting his day of carving.

He told me that many of the stones they use for the statues come from a place near Sathanur Dam, some 25 kms distance. He also mentioned that this is the third day of his working on the Nataraja statue and he doesn't expect to finish it for another couple of days.

The below represent some of his finished statues and artifacts. Some of the stones come from some distance away. In the case or the red marble Hanuman (on the left), the stone comes from near Gujarat in North India.

The young lad's name is Shiva, Shanmurgan's 16 year old son and apprentice who is currently learning sculpting from his father as his father learnt it from his own father, so many years previously.

So, I left town, on my daily walking exercise and took a photograph of a choultry (rest area for pilgrims) currently being built by the local Municipality. The view is certainly spectacular!





The resthouse (choultry) in more closeup. Its in a perfect position with Arunachala to its right and the outer pradakshina road to its left. the great open space in front of it is part of the temporary bus and coach carpark which is packed during the time of Full Moon.

Off I go home. Maybe I will stop at the nearby Animal Shelter to talk to our wonderful vets from Holland, Kim and Rogier, who sadly will be leaving for their native place in a few weeks. But happily for the very deserving animals of Tiruvannamalai, a lady vet (also from Holland) will be coming from Puttaparthi (Andhra Pradesh) to take over at the shelter.