: Couple Cooks Homegrown Veggies in Solar Cooker; Cuts Costs by Rs 20,000/Year #IndiaNEWS #Bengaluru Following a sustainable lifestyle is not just one person’s decision in a family, it requires the

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Couple Cooks Homegrown Veggies in Solar Cooker; Cuts Costs by Rs 20,000/Year #IndiaNEWS #Bengaluru
Following a sustainable lifestyle is not just one person’s decision in a family, it requires the buy-in of every family member. For 50-year-old Ravikala Baligal the desire to implement small changes in her day-to-day life was always on her mind. When she moved to Bengaluru, the desire started materialising.
Speaking to The Better India, Ravikala says, “My husband Prakash Baliga and I have been married for close to 25 years now and have lived in different cities. Finally, when we decided to make Bengaluru our home, I started convincing Prakash to help me implement some long-term practices to lead a sustainable life. �?
Being in their own place also helped in putting some sustainable practices in place.
Prakash Baliga with the parabolic cooker.
As a volunteer at a Children’s NGO in the city, Ravikala says that she learnt about many energy-saving and sustainable practices like rainwater harvesting, composting, etc. “Even before I was married to Prakash, his mother used a solar cooker for cooking and even though I had not used it, I had heard about it from her. That inspired me to try it as well and even though my husband wasn’t 100 per cent convinced I wanted to give it a try. �? She adds here that all they needed was a mindset shift.
Harnessing the Sun’s Energy
Fresh organic vegetables from the terrace garden.
“The one thing that we have in abundance is sunlight and therefore I was sure that using a solar cooker would not be very difficult,�? says Ravikala. Some of the apprehensions that her husband had included the time this cooker would take up but Ravikala says over repeated use, one gets used to it and can time how long it takes for food to get completely cooked.
Almost 13 years ago, Ravikala and her husband installed a solar heater in their home and she says that it is on very rare occasions that they turn on the conventional water heater in their home. “Only on occasions when there is no sunlight and it has been raining incessantly do we switch on the water heater,�? she adds. She also says that in many of the independent houses of the city there is a solar panel installed on the terrace.
“This may be feasible only in independent houses and getting it done for larger apartment complexes might need the consensus of all residents and that might be a problem,�? she says. The two key ingredients in making this shift, according to Ravikala are patience and family support. “There are many people who give up on it because of the amount of time and patience the process requires. So before you make the shift, make up your mind on seeing it through,�? she adds.
‘Solar panels help save money too.

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