From Manjhi to Maa….. one moved a mountain with simple tools while the other is determined to reclaim healthy rivers by simply transforming household cleaning habits
An Indian Mother’s Journey to Transform the Environment for Her Child and Beyond, making it a “Being Good, Doing Good” revolution. Mother’s Day is here, and our Mother Earth is sulking amidst an abundance of inspirational stories of maternal heroism.
Priya, a professionally qualified working mother (with middle class roots) could feel that pain and decided to take the small steps towards an extraordinary motive of making our Mother Earth happy again. This mother was determined to keep this promise despite the difficulties she faced. She overcame all those obstacles and subtly brimmed a movement of kindness and purity, a movement of CHANGE! The change is now all set to bring a revolution pan India. This time the mission is not about moving a mountain, but having healthy families and happy rivers.
She has manifested it with the name of Happy Ganga – representing all the rivers to be reclaimed for us and for the mother earth’s well-being. A believer in the power of simplicity, she says, “When all of us change the way we clean our floors and dishes, we will effortlessly clean the rivers.” The mission is to be accomplished in a big way just by adopting a simple change in the way we clean our floors and dishes!
So, what motivated her? Ten years ago, Priya embarked on a Teerth Yatra with her family. During their trip, her son took a few sips of water from the holy river as was customary. The river was so toxic with harmful contaminants that it caused the deterioration of her son’s health rapidly, leading to a lengthy hospitalization of 21 days. Seeing her child’s suffering in these 21 days, Priya was devastated and overwhelmed with grief. It is never easy for a mother to see her child in such pain and just because he drank water from a river which we consider to be holy and our mother!
In this moment of anguish, she vowed to her husband saying, “I will clean all the rivers so that no mother should have to endure what I have, and no child should have to suffer as our son.. Time to clean our rivers as holy and as a mother to us.”
This was a promise by a mother amongst us who believed in the supremacy of motherhood, but had no clue how she was to achieve it. A few days later, her son returned home safely. But the mother in her was persistent with the vow and her mission – to find a sustainable way to clean the rivers and create a healthier environment for all.
“You don’t really start with everything in hand, you start with a goal and everything else will fall in place, especially if it is for the larger good,” says Priya who knew that achieving such an ambitious goal would never come without obstacles or setbacks.
As a middle-class woman, it was no less than climbing the Everest for her. She had to face various problems starting from finding a solution, reading existing research papers, convincing the family and of course the financial constraints that we live with. But she did it!
She would speak to the apartment owners’ association, and ask for being present in the most crowded areas for a couple of days and set up a table to talk to people to see their reactions and responses. “The responses were usually quite overwhelming because people love the cause, there was a clear sign that they want to join the movement. They saw a double benefit of keeping chemicals away and cleaning the rivers.” Says Priya whose eyes lit while thinking of the goodness in the people she meets. When asked what it is that makes her Happy Ganga cleaners do which looks almost impossible, “PoP – Power of Probiotic cleaners,” she says.
It was invented more than 3 decades ago, but nobody really thought of its realm of benefits.
PoP is safe and effective for homes, drains and river cleaning. Not just for gut health, Priya’s visionary approach uncovered a potential of PoP from these microorganisms. With simple and innovative thinking, she got the kitchen and household cleaning products, she harnessed the latent power of probiotics, which will serve to clean floors, drains and maintain nature’s delicate balance and contribute to the cleaning of rivers as well. The PoP functions by dissolving organic materials, such as dirt and filth, into smaller particles that may be easily eliminated. The wastewater moving via sewers and eventually reaching rivers cleans all of them, leaving houses and waterways clean, fresh, and healthy.
She took small steps but were big enough to start this Revolution with Happy Ganga. Each of us can now put efforts towards making the environment and earth a better place just by Getting out of regular chemical cleaning methods and adopting probiotics in our daily cleaning chores just like her. This has been made even easier by her by setting up a sustainable environment portfolio with the name- Happy Ganga probiotic products, a simple yet effective probiotic solution for millions of families and environment-conscious mothers looking to maintain a healthy home and planet.
Happy Ganga thinks that cleaning products are more than simply a commodity; they are an expression of our concern for the health of our family and now our love for our mother earth too.
“The reality is that the chemical cleaners have become a deeply inherited habit in us, despite their harmful effects. It is not merely a matter of habit, but rather a way of thinking. So, why not alter the thinking patterns to adopt PoP for everyones’ good?,” asks Priya.
The food we eat, the water we drink, and the life we live, we get all of them from Mother Earth. Contrary to being thankful, we have grown cruel to her, with time. Exploiting our nature, especially the rivers, has been a continuous and ruthless action by mankind! This was the picture until hope arrived in the form of another mother who stepped forward to save Mother Earth.
Priya’s story of maternal love, grit and a doer’s mind-set is an inspiration for all and especially to the other similar mothers! The story serves as a testament to the power of a mother’s undying commitment towards her child and Mother Earth while creating a better world for all. Not just Priya, this can be the story of millions of mothers who have the same potential as her.
This note is a humble request to all those mothers who understand that Mother Earth nurtures their children as much as them. Our children are the future and You are the present. Come and join the revolution started by a mother who fought against all the odds for her son and to clean the rivers.
Earn your Badge:
Join us in the celebration of Mother’s Day by sharing your story of grit as a Change/Impact maker and earn your “Being Good, Doing Good” Badge from Happy Ganga.
For more information and submission of your story, please fill in the details here https://www.happyganga.com/being-good-doing-good-revolution/
The shortlisted stories get featured in the News/Press affiliated with Happy Ganga and will be published on Happy Ganga’s social media pages.