ahead of diwali the demand for kandeels is on the rise in mumbai akash kandeels as the mahrashtrians call it are basically lanterns that will soon be seen adorning most households during the festive season and while various types of kandeels made from paper plastic and many other materials are already available all over the city right now a few students have come together to create a sustainable version in a bid to revive forgotten weaves and promote ecofriendly kandeels some students of sir jj school of art have been making cloth kandeels that have a shelf life of three years and can be reused multiple times we havent used anything artificial at all nor any kind of plastic while making these kandeels these are completely ecofriendly and sustainable says utsavi lahane a studentthe students say that they wanted to make something authentic utsavi shares we are using the traditional maharashtrian khann cloth to create these special kandeels though this textile apparently originated in andhra pradesh where local men and women weave this cloth it is highly auspicious in maharashtra and is also offered to our goddesses i wanted to bring back what we have lost these little traditions and cultures so we have used this special textilethis is the first time these students are making something like this professionally and theyre already inundated with orders siddhi lahane a student whos also involved in making these khann kandeels feels that this entire process right from ideating to getting ready to sell these products has been a great experience she says we are helping our seniors all the way through this process and that has helped us gain exposure another student shantanu parkar agrees this project is not just close to our hearts but it has also helped us earn some moneytheres demand for these kandeels from indians living abroad too people have asked for foldable kandeels so were trying to figure out a way to do this our indian community abroad have also asked for such specific ones we use natural bamboo which is not foldable and is tough to send abroad but were working on this says utsavikeeping up with the traditions these budding entrepreneurs are also trying to create a range of different kandeels we have come up with godadi kandeels godadi handmade light duvet or quilt is another traditional almost rural aspect that we want to highlight for urban mumbaikars she addsstudents turn entrepreneurs this festive season authentic kandeels are in demand this year