There’s got to be a lot of love when you sign off a letter “with love”. More so, if the “with love” flourish was made with Lakshmi Menon’s paper pen.
And what a pen! Made of paper which melts into the earth after use, it gives rise to new life in a few days. That’s quite extraordinary! An extraordinary idea from an extraordinary woman! Scribble away till the ink dries up and then throw it away. Herein lies the surprise.
Lakshmi Menon believes if you cannot do great things, you can do small things in a great way. This is precisely what this enterprising young woman has been up to. She initiated the endeavour “With Love” to make a difference to life with creativity.
“With Love” are pens made from paper with the sole intention of reducing the plastic burden around us. Paper pens are no big deal. Hence, Lakshmi yearned to do more. There had to be something more to the pens, like life perhaps, in the form of a tree. One tree from a pen! Sounds weird, but real, nonetheless. Lakshmi designed her pens in such a way that they could hold a few tiny seeds at their base.
It’s impossible to find a household where, at least, one member does not use a pen, which when runs dry, is tossed out. Conventional pens being non-biodegradable leave their mark on the soil and pollute the earth. Lakshmi saw in her paper pens a solution to the problem. Her pens thus cast out would break down into the soil and out of the seeds would sprout saplings.
All you need to do is drive the pens into the earth once the ink is over. Water them for a couple of days till the seeds start germinating. Even if you don’t follow the exercise consciously, the seeds grow by themselves and this makes all the difference.
But only very small seeds can be seated at the base of the pen. She, therefore, began with vegetable seeds. But the real challenge lay in fixing tree seeds, which were pretty big. It was then that she stumbled upon the Agastya tree, rich in tiny seeds and high in medicinal content. Its leaves and flowers are put to use for the treatment of diseases like thyroid.
The leaves of the Agastya are also mixed with cattle feed. Agastya seeds, however, are hard to come by these days. The tree is a largely unknown species today, totally tucked away from human touch. Lakshmi sourced the seeds after a great deal of search.
The significance of “With Love” lies in the fact that when someone buys a pen, it leads to the growth of a medicinal plant in the backyard or in open places or anywhere where there’s a bit of earth for life to spring up.
Megastar Mammootty put the initiative on the right track when he inaugurated it on World Environment Day on June 5, 2016. Though Lakshmi had set a target of selling one lakh pens that year, all of them were sold out in four months.
“All of us love our environment and truly want to do something to better it. But we are at a loss for ideas and wait for others to come up with schemes and initiate action. We sell a pen for Rs 12, which is what you give for a cup of tea. With each pen bought, you also plant a tree for that same price. Now let’s weigh the possibilities you can get out of a tree. However much you may size it up, you are likely to owe a single tree a cool Rs 6 lakh for its immense benefits to you and the surroundings. Each pen you buy is as good as an oxygen cylinder,” says the young lady.
It’s noteworthy that women comprise Lakshmi’s workforce and all the work is done at her residence. At present, there are about 30 women working for “With Love.”
The entrepreneur is happy that she could give a few women around her place in Arayankavu, a source of livelihood.
Lots of people buy her pens for gifting. They are made to match the tastes and colours customers ask for. However, these pens are not for students, says Lakshmi, for the simple reason that they are too expensive for them. “It’s hard to spend Rs 12 on a paper pen each time they need one.” Instead of going in for use-and-throw plastic ball points, why not train students to use ink pens?, asks Lakshmi.
Lakshmi, today, is a very visible presence on several global fora for her “With Love” initiative. She’s in fact been selected as one of the 10 women from the world over, who has had a positive influence on society.
The entrepreneur is not new to innovative schemes. Years ago she had caught worldwide attention by initiating a enterprise called “Ammoommathiri” by getting senior women to make wicks for lamps. Backing her up to the hilt are two strong women- her mother Sreedevi and grandmother Bhavaniamma. When it comes to giving names to her innovations, this interior designer has her quirky choices.
Her enduring vision has been titled “Vilakkumaram”, a project which envisages an entire area of trees to be planted by people who have lit up the world in different ways. And the place for this is right under her nose, her farmland. She plans to throw open this green haven to the public once it takes shape.
Read more: On a roll
