Bamboo Bottle a Smash Hit, A La Bollywood!
When Ravina Tandon of Bollywood got “lost in this bamboo grove” of lovely, ecofriendly, biodegradable water bottles from Tripura, the state Chief Minister merrily tweeted about it. ‘Naturally’, as is apt to say!
A water bottle made of bamboo! Yes, sounds little out-of-the-world, but it’s true.
Moreover, it has designs decked around it with polish and glitter. Even a steel or a copper water bottle may pale into insignificance beside it if one goes by the look alone.
This designer bamboo bottle of Tripura has become the latest heart throb of Bollywood diva RavinaTandon!
Tandon has become so enamoured of these bottles that she makes it a point to order the newest launches from Tripura Rehabilitation & Tree Replantation Corporation and posts them in social media.
Thanks to Tandon’s posts in her twitter handle and some innovative promotional activities of the Tripura-based Bamboo & Cane Development Institute(BCDI), demand for such designer bamboo bottles has suddenly started going through the roof.
And tribal artisans who have first begun crafting them on an experimental basis, are almost working 24 X 7 to match the demand-supply gap.
Importantly enough, bamboo bottles have crossed the state’s border and been penetrating into the major northeast and eastern markets like never before.
Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb, who personally thanked the Bollywood actress for patronising the bottles, felt that Tandon’s tweets would go a long way in inspiring the artisans of this remote NE state.
“Tripura is proud to introduce variety of unique and eco-friendly hand-crafted bamboo made bottles.
“The bottles made by bamboo artisans of the state are being developed by TRPC in collaboration with BCDI and FRCLE in Tripura,” Deb tweeted.
The moment Raveena re-tweeted it and posted the same in other social media, it took little time to go viral, prompting Chief Minister Biplab Deb to dispatch some designer bottles to her
Incidentally, BCDI scientists had first introduced these bottles more than a couple of years ago; but they failed to capture the market.
It was only after a re-launch of the product by the chief minister a few months back that it caught the attention of Raveena Tandon.
The moment she re-tweeted it and posted the same in other social media, it took little time to go viral, prompting Deb to dispatch some designer bottles to her.
“We are, indeed, grateful to her for making these bottles so popular across the country,” the chief minister said.
“There is no going back since then as we’re being flooded with orders from across the country and artisans hardly have time to relax,” claimed Dr Abhinav Kant, the BCDI chairman.
According to him, it is completely leak-proof and designed in an eco-friendly manner with steel, glass and copper layers around the bamboo exterior.
Hence, the water remains odour and germ free while the bottle has little chance to develop leakage.
Says Indian Forest Service(IFS) officer Parveen Kaswan , “This(bamboo bottle) is a lovely eco-friendly product ; I’ve to give additional marks for its design and finish.”
The Forest Research & Recycling division of the Tripura government headed by Dr Pavan Kaushik has been engaged for several years now in developing decorative furniture with bamboo and cane.
At least, five thousand tribal and their families who have since been initiated into this drive, have succeeded in earning their livelihood, having learnt the craft of designing various types of attractive furniture with a proper mix of bamboo and cane.
Now, the state government is toying with the idea of setting up dedicated centres to develop these products outside the state.
Who knows, more such products and out-of-the-blue tweets by celebs might give a mighty lift to the lives of these tribal artisans of Tripura?