I haven’t yet visited Forest Spirit Learning, a nature-based learning space created by Jyoti Raghavan (48), that finds its residence in Haryana’s Sector 79. But when Aarush Gupta (13) shows me his painting, I’m instantly transported to the spot. His sketch, with its colour scheme and shading, beautifully captures the essence of the place.

As I compliment him on his work of art, his mother Meenakshi shares how this is one of the rare times her neurodivergent son hasn’t struggled to find the right words to express himself — his visual vocabulary has done it for him.

Meenakshi recalls her son’s birthday outing this year — a trip to Forest Spirit Learning. Right from the minute he set foot on the land, his imagination ran riot. “He wanted to draw the vegetables, the trees, the flowers; everything that he saw. He began to name all the shades of green that he spotted in the leaves. He wanted his painting to reflect them,” his mother explains. It was the same with the textures of the fruits, the walls and the soil.

Ever since then, when Aarush visits the nature school, it is with intent. He wants to use his palette to breathe life into his surroundings. Nature tends to have that effect, Jyoti interjects. It helps you make sense of the world, no matter who you are.

Forest Spirit Learning: where life skills are taught

As I scroll through the school’s Instagram page, a certain picture catches my eye. It is of a barbet being cradled. The bird was brought to Jyoti a few days ago after it crashed into a glass window. “Barbets feed on the fruit of peepal (sacred fig) and banyan. The locals wanted it re-homed on the nearby peepal tree,” Jyoti explains.

A period of recovery, rest and food nursed the bird back to health. I’m amazed at this act. But as I learn, for years, Jyoti has extended this kindness to snakes, barn owls, mongooses, squirrels and garden lizards. Her aim has remained constant — to make nature a mainstay in conversation. And today, as students from across the schools of Delhi and Gurugram revel in the greenery she has nurtured, she can’t help but smile at this full-circle moment.

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