Mark Magnier
March 19, 2011
Reaction exceeded expectations ... elephant poo stationery.
JAIPUR, India: A thousand-kilometre journey begins with a single step. Sometimes that step leaves a little something on your shoe.
Vijender Shekhawat's big break came while visiting a shrine near the Amber Fort in Jaipur, India, when he glanced down at the pile of elephant dung he had just failed to avoid. A struggling maker of handmade paper, he noticed the texture of the plant-eating animal's manure was a lot like wood pulp.
''Eureka,'' he thought. Pachyderm poo paper.
His family thought something else: he was stark-raving mad. Mr Shekhawat, 29, came from a warrior caste of bejewelled rulers and decorated generals.
''We came from a dynasty that used to sit on thrones,'' said his mother, Kaushalya Kanwar. ''All we could think was, 'How far have we fallen?' ''
His principal buyer was also sceptical. ''This is too strange,'' Mahima Mehra, the head of papermaker Papeterie Co, recalls thinking.
Mr Shekhawat persevered despite early failures. At 100 per cent dung, the paper did not hold together. He settled on a 75 per cent dung-25 per cent cotton mix, and he was on his way.
Ms Mehra also warmed to the idea after researching it and finding it was made in Thailand, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
To counter cynics, they referenced Ganesha, an elephant-headed Hindu god, arguing that there was no harm in recycling divine waste. ''Religion runs everything in this country,'' Ms Mehra said. ''Suddenly, scores of people wanted to work with the stuff.''
Mr Shekhawat's next challenge was securing enough droppings. Fortunately, tourist-friendly Jaipur, the capital of the northwestern state of Rajasthan, is a magnet for elephants and their mahouts, or caretakers. Mr Shekhawat initially collected the dung wherever he could find it, but soon the wily mahouts realised that their once-worthless waste now held value.
So Mr Shekhawat provided the elephants' food, pleasing the mahouts. The beasts ate better, pleasing the elephants. And higher-quality dung emerged, pleasing Mr Shekhawat. ''Before, keepers skulked around dumping it at night,'' Mr Shekhawat said. ''Now they're delighted.''
''Made from the finest elephant dung in India,'' the packaging of Haathi Chaap or ''elephant print'' brand products boasts.
''It's unique,'' said Tanvi Sharma, 26, buying an elephant-poo board game. ''Then again, I just paid $8 for animal [dung].''
Reactions have exceeded expectations, Ms Mehra said.
''A few say 'Eek' and refuse to touch it,'' she said. ''But most laugh and, almost without thinking, smell it.''
Mr Shekhawat, who believes he was India's first elephant dung papermaker when he began the venture eight years ago, uses 1500 kilograms of droppings a week.
The dung is first washed, then boiled with baking soda and salt to reduce the smell, beaten to a pulp, forced through a sieve, flattened into sheets and then dried.
He now sells as far afield as the United States and Europe. ''Call it God or good luck, a lot fell into place and I feel blessed,'' he said.
Los Angeles Times
No comments:
Post a Comment