A store without electricity? Today? Meet the man who has made it possible

ASAL, an organic and natural product store in Ahmedabad does not use electricity, in its effort to conserve natural resources. Shripal Shah, owner of ASAL is the man who left his lucrative career in the diamond industry to promote sustainable living through traditional wisdom. While in standard twelfth, Shripal stayed with his spiritual guruji who inspired him and enlightened him with his thoughts of traditional Indian life style.

Since the day ASAL was found, it has been inspiring many people to live a life without depending on electricity and other forms of energy and it will continue, says Shripal. The store showcases natural organic products and also the philosophy of sustainability which would keep people and the planet healthy. Asal has always been encouraging and educating the customers to bring in sustainable design into their daily lifestyle. ASAL prepares and sells organically grown and produced food and a variety of body care products made by ayurvedic and traditional methods. Asal uses traditional methods of slow manual processing for making their products by eliminating use of fossil fuels and preserving the natural qualities of the product. Shripal talks about how people are so dependent on energy in their every day life and the dangerous side of centralized energy distribution system. People of today have taken all the natural resources for granted and have been exploiting it without knowing about its long term impacts. Relying on traditional and natural methods of processing products rather depending on electricity and other machines, Asal has been achieving good profits, says Shripal.

The traditional philosophy is to be in harmony with the external environment and with one's own body. In keeping with its principles of conserving energy, the store does not use any electricity. Lighting and ventilation are provided by large windows and castor oil lamps in the evening. He considers himself as the start for the movement of low energy life style and hopes for a better tomorrow.