As far back as I can recall, ironing clothes has always been a chore I tried to shy away from. In fact, during my days at Medical College, the only upside to the Examination week was that the ironing of my clothes was cheerfully taken over by a friend who was a year junior to me. After all we Army brats stuck together for more than one reason!
Now, several decades later, after having gone through the daily ordeal of removing the creases out of saris which had already been under the “presswalla’s” hot coal iron, I gleefully let the errant crease make an appearance without a care of how it would impact the eyes of the beholder, not to mention being the reason behind a creased brow.
Imagine how vindicated I felt when I read about ‘Wrinkles Acche Hai’ (WAH)’, the latest initiative of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. The staff was directed to wear wrinkled clothes on Mondays. This campaign was launched as part of CSIR’s ‘Swachhata Pakhwada’ from 1-15th May 2024. This would reduce electricity consumption, contribute towards saving energy, and also cut electricity expenses by 10 percent.
Dr N Kalaiselvi, secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, claimed that ironing a set of clothes emits nearly 200g of carbon dioxide. Hence wearing wrinkled clothes, while putting a smile on people like myself, is also an endeavour, however small, towards fighting against Climate change.
‘Wrinkles Acche Hai’, applies not only to clothes but to the face too, for each wrinkle has a story to tell.
