Women make ‘divine’ souvenirs with used flowers

Efforts of TTD and Horticultural varsity pay off

With a little training imparted by professionals, women hailing from simple backgrounds have been successful in making artefacts and souvenirs made of dry flowers.

Apart from making ‘agarbatthis’ from used flowers, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) has also embarked on making souvenirs and divine images made of dry flowers and has signed an MoU with Dr. YSR Horticultural University for imparting training. The training programme is being held at the varsity’s Tirupati-based Citrus Research Station. Women are being trained in making portraits of gods, paper weights, key chains, etc., with the dry flower technology.

TTD Joint Executive Officer (Health and Education) Sada Bhargavi, who visited the training camp on Tuesday, called it a privilege for the local women to get into making such ‘divine’ souvenirs. “The TTD is not engaged in such tasks for the sake of revenue or enterprise, but with the sacred vision to present the used flowers, which are viewed as ‘Swami Pushpa Prasadam’, to the devout”, she reiterated.