Eco - The Aarti Trunk

For the leadership list — a lit mandir, a solid-brass pooja set, and a trunk worth keeping.

The lid opens onto a lit mandir: an eight-inch preserved-forest shrine holding metal Laxmi and Ganesh, ready to plug in. Everything the aarti itself needs is laid around it in brass and corked glass, so nothing has to be found or bought on the morning. What follows the prayer is in there too, for when people stay at the table.

• The mandir is the year-round object. Preserved moss and flowers hold their colour without water or light, and the integrated LED runs from a standard adapter.
• A complete aarti, arriving assembled rather than as parts. The deep, the bell and the trio are all there — which is the actual complaint about most pooja gifting.
• Solid brass rather than plated. Raw unprocessed honey in four varietals rather than blended syrup. Preserved botanicals cut once and displayed for years, with nothing to replace.
• Rigid MDF wrapped in forest-green rexine, with a cushioned woven-fabric lid panel bordered in twin gold lines. Gold foil inside the lid, ivory ruched satin in the base, a brass clasp and twisted gold rope handles — carried by hand, and kept long afterwards.