Ingenuity is not just confined to laboratories and workshops and it can be found in our daily lives too. Take for example, the innovative bamboo public washbasins in Nagaland made from nothing but bamboo. No steel or plastic pipes are used to supply water to drink and wash hands thereby ensuring zero damage to the environment.

In long horizontal bamboo poles small cuts are made which are plugged by using small bamboo pieces as stoppers. The villagers supply water in these natural washbasins by using pipes from the rivers flowing in the hills. This ensures that there is constant flow of fresh water. Water can also be filled manually in them, in case a perennial source of water is missing.

Those wishing to use the water simply remove the bamboo stopper and then after use reinsert it to stop the water flow.

What makes these public utilities even better are the wooden hangers tied to poles or trees, to hang towels for drying and also space for keeping a soap or liquid handwash bottles.

Such bamboo washbasins are constructed in the villages for people to use or during public events and gatherings like weddings or festivals.