MY LATEST 'POME' FOR THE BAMBOO STORE

Stay cool in this economic meltdown
Don't wory, don't frown

Surround yourself with bamboo green
On this strong grass you can lean
Life will not seem so mean
In bamboo's embrace, you can preen!

Shut out the hot sun with bamboo blinds
Surely, one of the Bamboo Store's great finds
Create a cool atmosphere for great minds!

Bamboo for the table
Bamboo shoots on the table
If you are willing and ableBamboo is quite a staple !

Bamboo lamps to flood your home with light
Bamboo baskets for many purposes so right
Don't give up without a fight
Keep your spending really tight

So no more economic doom
Let bamboos boom !!

Bamboo products galore
Only at The Bamboo Store
N-11 rear Lane
N _ Block Market Greater Kailash Part I
New Delhi -110048

The World Wakes up to Bamboo

This is a story that has appeared on the CNN website - I think it is exciting that bamboo's potential is being widely recognised. We at the Bamboo Store have been working to do just this - show bamboo as a solution to the environmental and poverty issues in today's world.
The story is titled

Can bamboo tackle environmental and poverty concerns?
Story Highlights
-Bamboo could be source to lift thousands out of poverty in south east Asia
-Potential of industrial use of fast-growing plant lies in greater export market
-Bamboo must overcome image problem, say advocates

This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser.http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/15/eco.bamboo/index.html

Blind Love: Bamboo Blinds

Basically, bamboo blinds are made by weaving together splits of bamboo in a continuous roll. Bamboo blinds can be made from bamboo that has been split either very fine or in broad bands. Sometimes, blinds are made by combining thin and thick splits. Coloured threads can be used while weaving to create patterns and the bamboo may even be dyed to create interesting colour combinations. Since blinds have a loose weave, they allow light and air to enter while affording privacy. Blinds can be easily rolled up and down and are a great way of screening spaces. The benefits of bamboo blinds are

• They lend a lovely warm and natural look to any space, be it a office or home.
• They are an easy way of bringing nature into interiors
• They allow privacy and yet enable light and air to come.
• They are easy to maintain - dust regularly or wash them (they do not shrink unlike cloth blinds)
• They add space to a room as they are sleek and not voluminous like curtains
• Natural coloured blinds can blend in with any colour of furnishings/furniture.
• They can even be dyed as per your choice.
• They are sturdy and durable - will last you for ages.

EASY WAYS TO INCORPORATE BAMBOO IN YOUR LIFE

One thing I realise clearly now is that most people find it very difficult to think of ways to incorporate bamboo in their daily lives. Yes, they may be ecologically conscious and want to adopt bamboo. Yes, they may like the look and feel of bamboo. But they don't know how to begin to include bamboo in their daily lives. So, now for the next couple of blogs, I am going to look at how bamboo can be used at home, offices, restaurants, spas, gardens, etc. This will be like a practical guide to the various bamboo products available today, especially at The Bamboo Store. I will focus on particular products too and explain their construction and use.

For today it is a sampling of different bamboo products:

bamboo mats for your table

a variety of lamps

A Bamboo Life: Kitchen Garden in the City

Continuing the theme of " Bamboo Life" as in having a closer-to-Earth organic life, I am pleased to let you know that for years ( 14 to be precise), I have had a terrace garden - nothing fancy but just pots in which I have grown flowers and vegetables. More vegetables because I like the idea of growing my own food, using organic fertilizers ( cow manure and vermicompost). Watching the tiny flowers metamorphose into flavourful little tomatoes is wonderful. As I brush past the mint and the basil, they release their wonderful fragrance. Beans, onions, brocolli - they all share the sun in my garden. I use a lot of bamboo - to stake up the tomatoes , as a railing all along the terrace ( cheap and beautiful- not cold metal ) . Some pictures of my terrace garden - cheers to the Bamboo Life !

Notice the green bamboo railings above - they have lasted for years under the Delhi sun - just needs a coat of paint once in two years.

the heirloom tomatoes are heavy - the bamboo stakes are handy !

Bamboo Life Vs A Plastic & Glass Life

The responses to this blog and the Bamboo group on Facebook have been encouraging - I have had several heartwarming emails and chats about the blog. My friend S had the most interesting observations "I read your bamboo matters blog and realised that what I had written (to a friend) actually says what you were trying to say in one of your posts- that Earth and Grass are the perennial materials , sustainable, renewable, abundant, gifted by nature to humanity and animals to create homes and beauty, with soul and love. With so much steel,glass,concrete we lose touch with our own flesh and being, and the added illusion of perpetual contact through text and visual through digital media we humans have become the animated characters we created.A major revolution will happen in which people will have to learn to touch,sense,feel,smell the earth again. Its more than an climate change we are suffering, we are in crisis about what it means to be human and our relationship with "rasa" , desire which is with each other and not fantastic illusions like the golden deer.The only perpetual sustainablity along with Earth and Grass, along with it "rasa" of humans with each other and nature, absorption without necessary consumption!"

To this my response is yes there is a " Bamboo Life" which is warm and natural, which is far removed from the plastic world we seek with its cold metal and glass embellishments. This is what I wrote back to S " I totally agree with you - the more we run from what is natural, organic, " of the Earth" - the more we get into plastic, steel and glass - the more cold and unfeeling we are becoming as a race. Think of it - the computer game is replacing friends - I see it in my daughter's life. We ourselves are morphing into the materials we surround ourselves with - don't trust, don't feel, don't think. Just BEing ! "


So what do you think of it?

The Staff of Life

Bamboo in Northeast India is "The Staff of Life". It is there in the bamboo knife your umblical cord is cut with, the house you live in, the utensils you feed in, your daily implements, the pipes that bring you water, the bridges you walk on, the musical instruments you play and so till bamboo bier you lie on when your time on earth is up !

We have been working with bamboo craft communities in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland. Every state, every community has its own distinctive style of working with bamboo and even though the products are the same, baskets, containers, etc. each tribe/community has its own kind of bamboo product. We have been fortunate to work with bamboo artisans in most of the northeastern states and in Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh but somehow, Northeast and bamboo are synonymous. Perhaps, it is because bamboo is used with great felicity here and there are bamboo groves everywhere - bamboo housing, bridges, fencing, chicken coops, grain baskets, tea baskets and even pig cages - ever seen a squealing pig being transported !! Fish traps are beautiful in bamboo - strong and yet delicate, never spoiling despite being dunked in water for ages.

Working in Nagaland has been a highpoint - the design workshops there were led by Shahriyar. Some pictures from Nagaland -

heat-flattened bamboo culms

and woven bamboo products

Some of the products from our workshops and training programmes in the Northeast are available at The Bamboo Store. Believe me, each of them tells a story !!