As spring comes alive around us, filling our lives with blooming shades of yellows, greens, pinks, and reds, I am yet again reminded of what a blessing it is to be able to appreciate this vividness and revel in it.

Itâs such a taken-for-granted privilege to be able to look forward to the festivities, celebrate it with family and friends, and just simply set aside any daily monotony for a day filled with greasy food, good company and laughter-filled, multi-hued gulaal attacks.

© Mayura Balasubramanian

I am lucky to have it all, and perhaps you are too. But many others are not as fortunate.

Many people from marginalised communities as well as the differently-abled do not get to enjoy a similar quality of life. They are shunned and often pushed to a corner, kept away to make othersâ life easier. But one woman wouldnât have any of it, and decided to take it upon herself to change their lives for the better.

Bengaluru-based Mayura Balasubramanian founded an NGO âCraftizenâ with the aim of adding more value to these peopleâs lives. A social venture, Craftizen works with artisan groups, rural women and differently-abled from across the country to build means of independent sustenance.

© Mayura Balasubramanian

To enable the same, she kickstarted an innovative initiative called the Green Skilling program which helps generate livelihoods for close to 200 persons with intellectual disabilities by making natural, flower-based Holi colours, rangoli powders, sand art kits and much more.

All About The âGreen Skillingâ Program

For the program, Craftizen collects flowers that have been offered at temples or the ones which have been used in events such as weddings. The collected flowers are brought in and recycled by âPetalistsâ or people with intellectual disabilities who lovingly recycle the flowers to convert them into a unique range of products.

© Mayura Balasubramanian

Not only does this initiative generate livelihood, it also prevents hundreds of kilograms of flowers from clogging landfills and instead gives us eco-friendly, natural colours to put to various use.

Talking about the inspiration behind the program, Mayura told MensXP, âWhile our primary objective is to enable sustainable livelihoods for marginalized communities through craft based skills, we wanted to add one more impact layer of being eco-friendly by converting discards into useful products and thatâs how the term âGreen Skillingâ was coined.â

© Mayura Balasubramanian

She further adds, âTo date, 900 beneficiaries from marginalised sections including persons with intellectual disability and low-income women who have no other sustainable sources of income have been trained and receive ongoing livelihood support.â

Itâs An Environmental Blessing In Disguise

There is more to the Green Skilling program that meets the eye. Mayura shares that apart from saving over 10 tonnes of flowers from ending up in landfills, the initiative also helps save three times the water compared to conventional colours. Combined with their zero plastic packaging, the final product is 100 percent eco-friendly.

© Mayura Balasubramanian

Being natural, these colours wash off easily and require one-third the water to clean-up post celebrations compared to regular colours. So basically these handmade colours are non-toxic, safe and skin-friendly and suitable for all.

Improving The Quality Of Life For Differently-Abled

Craftizen, along with other like-minded NGOs and Institutes, identifies and rehabilitates persons with intellectual disabilities by providing them with relevant training and guidance in livelihood. Mayura adds that, âWhether a person has mild, moderate or severe level of disability, they can be engaged in this program since the task can be suited to their ability. Furthermore, we have found and documented that there is therapeutic and cognitive benefit to our Petalists of working with flowers including improved self confidence, ability to work in teams and colour recognition.â

© Mayura Balasubramanian

That is not all. With the variety of opportunities under the program, Mayura has ensured that the marginalised and the differently-abled can generate an income throughout the year. So apart from making Holi and rangoli colours, they are also trained in other techniques âto convert paper-dust (collected from cardboard mills) into home accessories and corporate gifts, fabric leftovers into travel kits and pouches, silk thread discards into jewellery and newspapers and magazines into pens,â highlights Mayura.

The Larger Impact For A Better Tomorrow

© Mayura Balasubramanian

Craftizen and the Green Skilling program does more than providing its beneficiaries with a source of income. Sharing her insights, Mayura says, âWhen a person earns an income, they are no longer just going to a day-care to be looked after, they are going to their place of work and this elevates their self worth and also gain respect from their own family members. All of this leads to psychotherapeutic rehabilitation which is important for mental and physical well-being.â

© Mayura Balasubramanian

In a paper published in the Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Mental Health in May 2019 by NIMHANS, Asiaâs largest centre for mental health, and Craftizen, the therapeutic and cognitive benefits of the Green Skilling program in psychotherapeutic rehabilitation was documented and made available to the public.

So hereâs to a celebration of these precious individuals who are adding colours to thousands of lives, thanks to the vision of one woman who wouldnât settle.

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