OUR STORY
It was 5 am in the morning when the sky was getting brighter and the morning twilight heralded the beginning of a new day. The month of October marked the beginning of the festive season and its smells wafted on the cold breeze that blew by the ghats of river Ganga. It was peaceful and the chirping of the birds could be heard. As time passed, we could behold people visiting the holy ghats of Ganga to perform daily rituals. We were the only spectators to devotees taking a religious bath in the sacred waters of river Ganga to wash their sins off despite the evidently visible dirt floating on the same river water. We were very surprised and upset at the same time. Surprised because we could not comprehend the source causing the pollution and upset because we knew Ganga the lifeline of Indian Culture was perishing in front of our eyes while we were sitting helpless.
"घाट से घर तक"
As we were about to leave for our home, we saw a truck, which was full of discarded flowers, stop by the ghats and in no time all the discarded flowers were disposed of in the river. We were grief-stricken at this sight and thought that something had to be done about it. Our Research revealed to us that these flowers make their way from houses of worship to rivers polluting them in the cruellest manner. It was at this time when we took the pledge to repurpose these flowers to conserve and protect the environment while creating a large-scale impact and securing the livelihoods of the marginalized communities.
"खुशहाल जिंदगी के तरफ"
We, at Connecting Dreams Foundation - Shri Ram College Of Commerce Chapter, started our endeavour by coming up with an evergreen solution, Esscent, an innovative idea of using the flower waste to produce eco-friendly, 100% charcoal free, and natural incense sticks. This aligned us with our mission of environmental replenishment. The initiators of the process of transformation of flower waste into incense sticks are called the Changemakers who are our user group. Sustainable livelihood creation was our priority, therefore, we employed 4 specially-abled and 2 rural women and uplifted their lives while bringing a smile to their faces.
"हमारी मुहीम और आपका सहारा"
We want to create a revolutionary impact in the world and we live by the motive that devotion should never lead to pollution.