FIN campaigns – “Don’t throw your clothes into the ocean”

On January 31st it was Thai Amavasai, or the new moon day in the Tamil Calendar month of Thai – celebrated by Tamilians the world over to honour their forefathers. On this day, just during the morning, at least 5000 people came to Kameswaram beach to bathe in the Bay of Bengal above the Indian Ocean.

 

The usual custom is to bathe in the ocean and then change into new clothes, leaving the old on the beach. This was OK in the olden days when there were not too many people, and all clothes like sarees and dhothis (worn by men) were all made of pure cotton without any buttons, any nylon threads, and any zippers. Now, on Thai Amavasai, the Bay of Bengal and its mother the Indian Ocean are contaminated by non-biodegradable clothes of worshippers.

 

 

This year FIN was determined to make a difference.

Meena madam, Nagalaxmi madam, and Ranjita madam made some portable foldable bins made of wood and covered with fish netting.

Amutha madam spoke to the Panchayat Head of the village council and got their permission. She and Meena madam, also got in touch with three organic women-farmers Rupa, Minnalkodi, and Gomathi, who came as volunteers.

Paranjothi sir came along with the masons, Murugesan head mason, and Kumarvelou, mason helper. They came early in the morning and set up the bins on the beach.

 

The FIN staff asked the people to not throw their clothes into the beach. Then they found that there were some who went asking the bathers for their clothes, in fact, who practically grabbed them as soon as they were taken off. Talking with this group, the FIN staff found that they were part of the recycling industry. The recyclers were going to take the clothes to sell them to another vendor against plastic ware they could again sell. However, the recycler teams took only sarees and dhothis, i.e. only cloth. They took a few shirts but left the rest along with the underclothes, the pants, the shorts, the blouses etc. on the beach as they had no recycle value.

 

 

Our staff also noted that while some of the worshippers were willing to throw their clothes into the bin, others simply didn’t care. They treated our staff badly either being rude to them or saying “I’m going to throw it on the beach – anyway – if you want it so badly – you can pick it up after me”. What a horrible attitude to have in what is to be a prayer for the welfare of the family ancestors…..Education is necessary to change such mindsets and value systems.

There was no one from the village council (Panchayat) on the beach. Last year, they had installed cabins for changing but this year there were none – possibly due to COVID.

Our staff worked hard to gather all the clothes on the beach and bring them to the FIN office. Thoroughly tired, they went home. They decided that we could not do more. The crowds continued to come.

The next day, Meena madam and Nagalaxmi madam went to the beach. There were still clothes on the beach. Worshippers had thrown leftover food and flowers also on the beach. So the goat herders were there and the goats were having a feast! Wouldn’t it be nice if goats could eat clothes along with their buttons, metal straps, and nylon threads and yield good manure through their excrements! Maybe, they will invent a robot to do this one day – but I can’t imagine how it can be done! Help us dear ancestors to reduce ocean waste……