Mandala

Mandala

MANDALA 

Lotus Blooms In The Big Apple

A new wellness and  

spirituality web magazine,  

A Lotus in the Mud,  

founded by seasoned journalist  

and the founding editor of Life  

Positive, Parveen Chopra, was  launched at the Consulate of India  

in New York on January 21. Chopra, who has a rich experience  in body-mind-spirit journalism,  summed up the webzine’s unique  content mix in his speech at  the launch: “We tap the world’s  religious and spiritual traditions  for wisdom as well as draw from  the latest medical and scientific  research to present content for  our readers to be fully productive  and successful, and yet be healthy,  happy, and centred.” He added  that every article they post on  alotusinthemud.com must pass  the litmus test of usefulness— something that the readers can  benefit from to better their lives.  He cited articles such as Practical  uses of faith—A Zoroastrian  perspective, The 4 happy hormones  and how to boost them, Is work  worship?—renegotiating work-life  balance, and Beware the frozen food  convenience to buttress his claims.  The unique interactive features of  his web magazine include short  

Praveen Chopra at the launch of ‘A Lotus in the mud’ web-magazine in NY 

meditations with soothing music, personality quizzes, and space  for visitors to share their experiences of healing and personal or  spiritual growth.  

Launching the website, Consul General Randhir Jaiswal  congratulated Chopra for the initiative which he called “another  slice of India in America, promoting wellness through yoga, right  food habits, etc, and from which people should take benefit.” 

Chopra agreed that even though the Lotus site sources from the  world’s major faiths, its founders, advisers, and donors—being  proud people of Indian origin—are committed to preserving,  protecting, and promoting Indian heritage by projecting it to  the American audiences. 

At the launch event, a video introducing the webzine explained  that ‘Lotus in the mud’ is a key concept in Hinduism and  Buddhism, signifying that we may get muddled by problems,  but we have the inherent capability to emerge as full-bloom  lotuses in body, mind, and spirit. 

A trained teacher of meditation, Chopra founded Life Positive, India’s first spiritual magazine, from New Delhi in 1996 after  leaving his job at India Today. Here in the US, he edited The  South Asian Times and the interfaith journal One World Under  God.  

Last year, Chopra founded the American Centre for Wellness  & Spirituality Inc, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit, to run the Lotus  website. 

LOCAL ACTION WITH GLOBAL CHANGE 

Dr Francin Pinto believes that we all  

can bring about a change if we wish  

to. She founded the Garbage Concern  

Welfare Society (GCWS) in 2005 and has been  

instrumental in diverting over 25 million  

tonnes of waste from eco-sensitive locations. Its  

current daily operation diverts 122 tons of waste.  

The team has trained over 5000 marginalised  

people to become waste managers, providing  

them with a dignified livelihood in the waste  

management sector.  

Dr Pinto says, “The only difference between  a problem and a solution is inaction. When  we know a serious crisis is staring at us in the  area of sustainability, we all must do something  about it.” She says that if waste is not treated or  systematically recycled, the accumulated waste  becomes a bio-hazard for the community at large.  Hence, for sustainable development to become  a reality, minimising waste by restructuring the  usage process and its treatment at source before  discharge, reduces the overall impact on the  ecosystem. This is done in a systematic manner  by the organisation.  

To enable Zero Discharge Communities  (ZDC), every institution or community has  a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for  on-site waste management. These audits  identify and qualify the various types of waste  produced, with details of the frequency of  production and the current process of handling  and discharge. In the case of hazardous waste,  the concentration and toxicity are analysed by a  certified body. The findings are submitted via a  

Dr.Francin Pinto works to enable zero discharge communites 

Waste Inventorisation Report, with suggestions  to minimise the waste, dispose it safely, and  recover resources from the waste. After this, the  stakeholders are educated on how to go about  and implement the suggestions for a cleaner,  healthier society.  

Furthermore, GCWS also studies the impact of  the adoption of this system which is then shared  as best practices with other communities to  multiply the impact. 

By creating such communities, the organisation  has noted that it reduces pollution of the  ecosystem by 85 per cent and increases the  recovery of new resources from waste by 65  per cent. The economic benefits increase  exponentially as the practice reduces the  unnecessary use of petroleum fuel for the  collection, disposal, and dumping of waste into  eco-sensitive regions. The livelihoods created  within the ZDC for the marginalised further  add economic value and build a holistic and  progressive community.  

- By Jamuna Rangachari