What do you find when you walk into a forest whose parts are charred by a fire?

You find scorpions (with half-burned bodies) scuttling away, hoping the viable half will carry them away from the flames fast enough to survive; butterflies making a dash, their wings — chipped, grazed, and burnt — barely withstanding the soot; wild dogs, squirrels, and deer tottering, crippled by the smoke that reaches their lungs.

What do you find when you walk into a forest whose parts are charred by a fire?

You find death.

But when Shweta Bhattad (40) walks into one, she is reminded of why she started the ‘Gram Art Project’ in 2013. The sustainable initiative is empowering village communities through accessories and fabrics made out of desi cotton and seeds. Her motive when she started the collective was to save the planet. And today, the sustainable rakhis (a sacred thread that a sister ties on her brother’s wrist on Raksha Bandhan) are a step in this direction.

Interestingly, these sustainable rakhis feature designs inspired by the aftermath of a forest fire.

“Everyone doesn’t see the kind of damage that takes place during these fires,” Shweta reasons, adding, “But we see it. Through these designs, we want people to become more aware of these things.” The dichotomy is where the beauty lies. Colours come together, woven into patterns that are then shipped across India to doting sisters who will tie them on their brothers’ wrists.

Well, you can go ahead and plan the rest of your Raksha Bandhan itinerary. Because this year, the rakhi part of it is sorted.

Sustainable threads of love

In the village of Khairi, 2 km from Paradsinga, Madhya Pradesh, where the Gram Art Project centre is located, a group of women sit around in a circle. It’s a blur of colour, laughter, and joy. Threads are dyed, woven into beautiful designs, and stitched to become a rakhi. The finished product is beauty personified.

But as Geeta Keskar (47), one of the women, points out, it is not yet ‘finished’. Carefully and gently, Geeta inserts the seeds of different kitchen garden plants — basil, roselle, spinach,........

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