As an Indian living in India, I share your sentiment regarding the de-grading westernization we are permitting in ourselves. We seem to insist on repeating everybody’s mistakes! But yes, its good to see the return of the pishvee. I also feel good to be able to say that our desi re-cycling system is very much in place – even in our fancy metro cities. Perhaps you could try lining your dinner ware with banana leaves – if you can grow them in your garden! – even mini eateries in the South of India do this – it saves a lot of labour on the dishwashing front. Or you could ask some local Indian store there to access bio-degradable disposables that are available easily here – made from the palm tree. And if they hold in rasam without leaking – they should hold in any American food!

Your article made such wonderful reading– full of nostalgia yet subtly putting the message across! I could relate to every bit of it.
In India, even branded stores of clothes and accessories are going back to the ‘pishvee’ or the ‘jhola’ as we call it in Bengali